"What... is the music... of Life?" the black door held a visage of a skull with a bloody hand print on it hovering over a skeleton and a pile of smaller skulls with what seemed to be a dagger sticking out of them. Fralia took this to represent Sithis, the Night Mother and the skulls of her dead children... she was most definitely in the right place.
"Silence, my brother..." she replied softly.
"Welcome... Home..." The large, stony black door slowly opened, giving her access to the sanctuary beyond. Fralia's heart fluttered at the word 'home'. She was eager, yet anxious, to embrace what awaited her here. She turned to Jenassa with a giddy smile on her face.
"Wait here. I shouldn't be long..." she said. Jen just smiled back at her and nodded. Once Fralia was inside, the door shut behind her. She headed down some stairs and found herself in a dark room with a desk and a few bookshelves. The book Sithis sat upon a pedestal on one of the shelves and piles of dark clothing lay on another. The rest seemed to be occupied by ruined books. Astrid was leaning against a doorway that led down some more stairs. She looked at Fralia expectantly.
"Ah, at last... I hope you found the place alright" she said in her low, seductive voice. She wasn't wearing a hood this time so Fralia could see that her face was just as attractive as her voice.
"So what happens now?" she tried her best to sound professional, but in truth she was as excited as a child... and eager to sink her blade into something substantial.
"Well... what happens now is you start your new life in the Dark Brotherhood. You are part of the family, after all." again, the word 'family'. Suddenly, it was as if a whole new person had taken over her and she just wanted to flit about, hugging everyone she could get her hands on. "This, as you can see, is our sanctuary. You won't find a safer place in all of Skyrim. So get comfortable."
"When do I get to kill someone?" she spoke a little quicker than she had intended.
"Haha... Soon, my dearest, soon." Astrid smiled at the overeager assassin. "I'm arranging a job for you, but I need more time. For now, go to Nazir. He's the Redguard. He may have some smaller contracts to tide you over. Soon, the Night Mother will arrive... and things around here are sure to get even more interesting..." Fralia's eyes widened and she simply couldn't hide her excitement.
"The Night Mother?"
"Yes. The Night Mother is our unholy matron-"
"I know who she is. She's coming here? The Night Mother herself is coming to this sanctuary?" Astrid looked at Fralia with a quizzical stare. The woman she had kidnapped had completely disappeared and was replaced by this curious child.
"How did you know about the Night Mother?"
"I did my research..." Fralia looked a little shy now, a little embarrassed by her outburst. Astrid just resumed her usual relaxed expression.
"Well anyway... before i let you go, i have something for you. A welcome home present. The armor of the Dark Brotherhood. May it serve you well in all your... endeavors." she handed Fralia a piece of tight leather armor with the boots, gloves and hood to match. Fralia took a look at her new armor as Astrid walked down the stairs. The leather armor was black and red with straps and studs all over. It reminded her of the nightingale armor. Then she looked over at the pile of clothes on the bookshelf and saw a red and black robe, some red fingerless gloves and a much larger mages hood... she looked from the leather armor and back to the robe a few times before snatching up the robe, hood and gloves, replacing them with the leather whatever.
She stepped into the room behind the desk and put on the outfit, very pleased with the way it all fit. It was loose and comfortable and she could easily hide her face under the hood or hide objects within the garb. She stepped back out of the room and heard voices coming from down the stairs. She followed them and stepped into a large cavern. It was dark and damp and looked as if it were the ruin of some old nordic dwelling. Across from where she was she could even see a word wall sitting atop some stairs. An entire forge was nestled in a corner to her left and to her right above a waterfall was a stained glass image of what she believed to be a representation of Sithis. Banners with the black hand of the Brotherhood were hung around the chamber and in the center of the large room, the members of the Brotherhood were circled around a child.
Fralia came in closer but stayed partially hidden behind a stalagmite as she listened to what they were saying. They were laughing...
"Hahahahahah! Again, again! Do the part where he tries to buy you some candy." It was an argonian speaking. He was speaking to the child who was unmistakeably a vampire. Fralia caught a glimpse of her bright amber eyes and suddenly the presence of a child in the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary wasn't so strange anymore. She replied to the argonian and her voice was disturbingly unchildlike.
"Ok ok wait... here we go." she began immitating the voice of an old man. "Oh, you're such a pretty little girl... would the sweety like a sweety? Oh yes, how about some chocolate?" she then took on an innocent little girl voice. "Oh yes, please, kind sir. My mama and papa left me all alone, and i'm so very hungry. I know a shortcut to the candy shop... through this alley." a few members of her small audience began to snicker. Among them was the argonian, a large blonde nord and a mysterious looking dunmer woman. The vampire girl continued her story with the old man's reply.
"Oh yea, very good, very good. My it is dark down here... Oh, but you are so beautiful. Such a lovely smile. Your teeth... your teeth! No! Aaaargh!" The small congregation laughed heartily at the ill fate of the man in her story.
"Oh, Babette but you are so wicked." the dark elf said when she caught her breath. The child, Babette, just grinned in reply.
"How about you, Festus? How did that last contract turn out?" The redguard, whom Fralia assumed to be Nazir, spoke to an elderly man who wore the same robes that she did.
"Oh yes, please, old man. Regale us with your tales of wizardry..." the deep voice of the nord man called out from his spot on the far side of the circle from Fralia. He folded his arms over his broad chest and leaned onto one leg in a stance of disinterest. The mage, Festus, just scoffed a reply.
"Ah, the young and stupid. Always mocking the experienced and brilliant." he crossed his arms and stared down the nord. "My contract went very well, I'll have you know. Tried a new spell... little something i've been working on in my spare time... Came "this" close to turning that priest inside out hehe... damned messy." Fralia giggled to herself at the thought of someone's organs being forced outside of their body... delicious.
"And what of your latest, Arnbjorn? Something about a khajiit? Merchant, was it?" The dark elf was addressing the nord. Babette smirked and spoke before Arnbjorn could reply.
"Oh... a big doggy chasing a little kitty... How adorable!" her statement earned a round of laughter from the group which Fralia couldn't help but join in. She gathered that, from what she said, Arnbjorn must be a werewolf. Arnbjorn gave a growl of annoyance.
"I am not adorable, it was not funny, and he wasn't a merchant. He was a khajiit monk, a master of the whispering fang style." then he smirked and looked directly at Babette. "But now he's dead... and i have a new loincloth." there was another round of laughter and Arnbjorn had a look of victory on his face at one-uping Babette's comment. The look fell from his face soon after as he noticed Fralia, who had, in a fit of laughter, come out from behind her hiding place to join the group. "Hey, new meat." everyone calmed down and turned to see what he was talking about. They all gave welcoming smiles. All except for Festus, who just humphed and made his way through the group and off to another part of the sanctuary, uninterested in the Initiate. The dunmer and Babette waved a hello to Fralia before following Festus. Nazir was closest to her and approached her.
"Hello. You must be Fralia. We heard all about your little session with Astrid at the shack. Nice work indeed... it takes alot to actually disturb someone who bathes in blood for a living, but somehow you managed." he extended his hand to her and she shook it.
"And you must be Nazir. I was told to come to you for contracts."
"You're awfully polite for a vicious killer..." his eyes searched her, as if to divine her very essence.
"I could say the same of you. And the rest of the group has yet to make me feel unwelcome... except perhaps Festus." the redguard laughed a bit at this and was visibly more relaxed.
"True... don't worry about him though, he's just a bitter old goat. Good at what he does though. I think you'll fit in just fine around here." Fralia smiled warmly. The atmosphere here was very comfortable indeed. "Now, as for contracts, since you seem so eager to begin working. I have three. To be completed at your leisure." He pulled three bits of folded up parchment from his outlandish looking garb and read them off before handing them to her. "I have Narfi. A beggar living in a desolate house in Ivarstead." Fralia became a little sad when she heard this. She knew Narfi. They had met when she had made her way to Ivarstead on her way to train with the Greybeards. She had helped put his mind at ease about his dead sister by giving him the necklace she had found on the girl's corpse. Nazir continued. "Then we have Ennodius Papius. A paranoid ex-miller living outside of Anga's Mill. You know where that is don't you?" Fralia nodded and recieved the contract. "And last we have Beitild. A mine boss in Dawnstar. Once you've finished one or all of them, report back to me for your payment. I don't often do contracts myself and they are scarce to begin with so I will still be here when you get back. Happy hunting." With that, he dismissed her. She thanked him and stuffed the detailed contracts into one of the pockets that the robes had on them.
She decided to take this time to meet the others and explore the cavern a bit. She heard a grindstone being worked at and turned to see Arnbjorn sharpening a sword. She gave a quick thought to introducing herself but decided against it when she caught a glimpse of the Argonian sitting beside the natural staircase leading to the caverns on the left. She tiptoed her way over and sat next to him. She had always been more interested in the beast races, which was strange considering that her parents had, in a complete rejection of Bosmer tradition, taken a leaf from the Altmers books and looked down on anything that wasn't an elf. This included the Dunmer as well. The argonian smiled warmly at the Wood elf, taking in her appearance.
"Greetings, Sister."
"You are Shadowscale..." she looked at him starry-eyed. He looked back, shocked.
"I... yes. Yes, I am. How did you...?"
"An old friend of mine... belonged to the brotherhood. He told me much about the traditions of the group and how things worked. Including details about it's members. As i recall, there is always at least one Shadowscale..."
"Well then... I suppose you also know that, as Shadowscale, I was born to serve the Brotherhood. I was raised a killer. That is all I know. Life is simple... and good." Fralia smiled. She did know this.
"I would love to trade stories with you some time... I am Fralia by the way." he smiled back at her.
"Veezara. And I'd like that. Like everyone else, I heard what you did at your initiation. Very interesting. I would like to hear more stories like that." Fralia giggled, her face reddening at the compliment. She knew immediately that they would get along well. She stood up to continue exploring and talk to the others.
"Well It's a pleasure to meet you Veezara. I'll see you around." Right away, she turned towards the word wall that stood between two doorways that led deeper into the sanctuary. Everything went out of focus as she got closer and one of the words glowed, her dragonborn blood illuminating it for her to understand. She gathered the knowledge from the ancient word to use as a shout before proceeding through the hall on the left towards where the others had gone. In the room beyond, there was an enchanting table and alchemy lab as well as a few benches and tables. There were alchemical ingredients scattered everywhere, as there usually was in any room that held an alchemy table. Babette was the first to notice her.
"Hello, sister. Fralia, was it?" Fralia nodded as she took a seat on a bench next to Babette's chair.
"I imagine it's quite convenient for you to look young like that forever... in this line of work that is."
"You're speaking of my Vampirism. Yes, you would be correct. Nobody ever suspects a child. I'm impressed that you noticed so easily... although it takes the fun out of pretending to have been kidnapped by the Dark Brotherhood." Fralia laughed a bit.
"The eyes were unmistakeable. Although at first, I did sort of suspect you of being a victim of some cruel form of torture when I came in to see the others surrounding you." Babette got a laugh out of that one. It wasn't until now that Fralia really gave thought to the fact that they all seemed so... happy. There was plenty of laughter, as they all shared the same dark humor. It seemed to keep them in high spirits. At least from what she had seen so far...
"I like you." Babette said. "Listen, if you ever need any potions or poisons, you come to me. I can also teach you a bit about alchemy... for a price, of course."
"I'll keep that in mind, thank you." Fralia looked past Babette at the little downstairs area behind her that was covered in spiderwebs and, she was horrified to see, housed a good sized frostbite spider. She stood and averted her attention towards the enchanting table on the far side of the room where Festus was working. She may have been uninterested in trying to be friendly with Arnbjorn, but she was determined to get on the old mages good side. She stepped up next to him. He sighed in annoyance before she had the chance to even think of what to say.
"Yes, yes, I'm your brother and i'm supposed to treat you with respect so... Hello! Happy now?" Fralia just smiled and tilted her head.
"Oh is that it? Oh no, good mage, you need not show me undue respect. I am, however, interested in something you said earlier... something about a spell that could turn people inside out? I wouldn't mind learning to do something like that..." The old man turned away from what he was doing to look at Fralia.
"HA! Even if I was willing to teach you something as advanced as that, you couldn't handle it! It would drain all of your magicka before it could even reach it's target. A pup like you could never hope to master it. I bet you can't even conjure a firestorm..." he waved a dismissive hand at her before returning to his work. She crossed her arms and stayed where she was.
"If I can master this firestorm spell, would you teach me your spell?" He glared at her for a second before giving it some consideration.
"Hm... throw in a bit of gold for the lesson, and you've got a deal. But from what i've heard, you're not the mage type, are you? Got yourself an enchanted sword, huh?" he glanced at the blade on her hip and she drew it out, brightening the candlelit room.
"Daedric... actually." she said as she presented it to him. He took another look at it and furrowed his brow.
"I know that blade... Dawnbreaker, isn't it? And how did you get ahold of Meridia's sacred sword?"
"I've made my living as an adventurer... I earned it when I cleansed her temple of the corrupted." she sheathed her sword and Festus went back to looking uninterested. She took this to mean he had nothing more to say and moved on. She decided she would meet the others next time she was in and settled for exploring. The Sanctuary was very spacious and had many rooms and hallways, all scattered with various species of mushrooms. She was heartbroken to see that none of the shelves held any legible books.
Down the stairs from the magicworking room was a sort of large dining room with enough tables to seat Ysgramor's Companions. There wasn't much at the table, however. She got the feeling that the Brotherhood wasn't much better off than the Thieves Guild was when she first arrived. Up a flight of stairs on the other end of that room was a sort of barracks. Just like in the guild, there were many beds with chests next to each of them. Next, Fralia found herself in a small cavern with three more halls branching off of it. One of which, she had just come out of. One led into a very large solitary bedroom with a table in it. Something about this room in particular drew her attention... as if something was important about it or that someone important resided there. She took the feeling to mean that this could be Astrid's room but then changed her mind when she remembered the room she had changed in at the entrance.
She left this very important room and went down the last hallway. One of the rooms here had a stone bed, a couple nightshade blossoms in a flower basket, and a copy of Sacred Witness on the dresser. Fralia assumed that this was Babette's room. The last room she came to connected the hallway to the first large cavern near the entrance. This room was moderately large and held a few benches and bookshelves and was shadowed over by the large stained glass image of Sithis. This room was seated above the waterfall from the main cavern. Here, she found Astrid reading a book on one of the benches.
'Where the hell did she get that book?' Fralia wondered to herself. None of the shelves she had come across had any books that weren't rotted or burned up. Astrid looked up from her reading when she heard Fralia come in.
"Ah, you're still here. Did you get your contracts from Nazir yet?" she said in her usual captivating tone.
"Yes, I did." she showed Astrid the bits of parchment she had recieved then returned them to her pocket. "I've also met a few of the others... They're quite friendly for a group of assassins. For the most part." Astrid smiled and looked back at her book.
"Hm. Well I wasn't being sarcastic when I called us a family. We are all brothers and sisters in service to the Dread Lord. We look after each other." Fralia smiled to herself. She decided that joining the Brotherhood had been a good decision on her part. She felt much more comfortable here than she ever did with the Guild... "Now run along. I believe you were given a few tasks to do?" Fralia nodded and made her way back through the main area and out of the Sanctuary, eager to sink her blade into something.