"But the Night Mother is mother to all! It is HER voice we follow, HER will!" as Fralia entered the sanctuary, she was met by a familiar high-pitched voice. She stepped into the main cavern to see the source of the voice. Cicero stood before the large crate he had been moving when they met. Astrid and a few of the others were gathered before him, listening to his speech. "Would you dare risk disobedience?! And surely... punishment?" his voice had lowered to a lethal tone and he laughed darkly at the thought of the wrath of Sithis being invoked upon disloyal followers. Arnbjorn was red with rage and looked ready to pounce on Cicero, causing a panic in Fralia as she felt inclined to step between them should things get violent.
"Keep talking little man... and we'll see who gets punished." Fralia rested her hand on Dawnbreaker's hilt, waiting.
"Oh, be quiet, you great lumbering lapdog..." Festus wasn't very patient with the werewolf's quick temper. "The man has had a long journey. You can at least be civil..." he turned back to the Jester. "Mr. Cicero. I, for one, am delighted that you and the Night Mother have arrived. Your presence here signals a welcome return to tradition." Cicero smiled politely.
"Oh what a kind and wise wizard you are! Sure to earn our Lady's favor..." Astrid stepped forward.
"You and the Night Mother are of course welcome here, Cicero. And you will be afforded the respect deserving of your position as Keeper." she turned to Arnbjorn. "Understood, husband?" the ill-tempered wolf just humphed and folded his arms irritably.
"Oh yes yes YES! Thank you, thank you thaank you." Cicero danced at having been protected by the sanctuary leader. Fralia relaxed a bit as tension dropped in the room. But Astrid wasn't finished.
"But make no mistake..." she looked at Cicero sternly. "I am the leader of this sanctuary. My word is law. Are we clear on that point?" something about the way Astrid said this made Fralia like her a bit less. Cicero's smile faltered only a moment before he responded.
"Oh, yes Mistress! Perfectly. You're the boss!" With all of that out of the way, Festus and Arnbjorn went back to doing whatever it was they did with their spare time. Astrid turned to see Fralia standing off to the side, watching, and approached her.
"Ah, there you are. Good. I was done speaking with that muttering fool anyway..." Fralia scowled but her look went unnoticed. She was definitely liking Astrid less and less. "We've got some business to discuss."
"Do you have a contract for me?" she tried to keep her voice calm as not to cause any problems. But every part of her wanted to defend Cicero.
"I do indeed. You must go to the city of Markarth and speak with the Apothecary's assisstant. You'll probably find her in the Hag's Cure when the shop is open. The girl's been running her mouth... wants an ex-lover killed. She's apparently performed the black sacrement. Her name is Muiri. I need you to talk to her, set up the contract, and carry it out." Fralia understood. This was one of those professional type contracts. She would have to represent the brotherhood well.
"Anything else?" she asked.
"Just do whatever the contact wishes. Be professional, represent us well, and get the job done. Since it's your first contract, i'll let you keep whatever Muiri pays. She'll be generous, I'm sure. They always are..." Fralia nodded and Astrid returned to her "office" at the entrance. Fralia turned eagerly towards Cicero. She could hear him muttering to himself as she walked up to him.
"Oh yes, mistress... You're the boss... for now."
"Cicero...?" The jester turned towards the familiar voice and immediately his smile found it's way back to his face.
"You! I remember you! From the road! Fralia, was it?" Fralia couldn't help but return his manic smile.
"Yes it's me. I wouldn't have guessed that you belonged to the brotherhood. It's good to see that you made it here unharmed." Fralia was all too aware of the attraction she had towards this man. It was strange and frightening. She hadn't felt this way for anyone... not since Ri'saara.
"Oh there is no need to worry, dear bosmer. It would take more than some wild animals and bandits to kill sly Cicero." Fralia's attention was turned towards the crate.
"So... When you said you were transporting your mother... you meant the Night Mother."
"Oh, yes. But not just my mother... OUR mother, hm?"
"I understand now... It was good to see you again. But I should get back to work. Shall we speak again when i return?"
"Oh, yes, of course! Kill well! And often!" Fralia searched for Nazir with a smile on her face. She couldn't forget to turn in her smaller contracts and collect her pay.
"Ah, I see you've returned. And how did your contracts go?" he said when she entered the dining hall.
"They're dead. All of them." the redguard seemed surprised but smiled his approval all the same.
"Well you certainly didn't waste any time. Three seperate contracts in only a couple of days. I think we have an overachiever on our hands. Here's your payment." He handed her a large coin purse with all she earned from the three assassinations.
"Do you have anything else?" she was eager for more.
"I'm sorry I don't. Come back later and I might have something for you." She nodded and left to head for Markarth, being sure to smile at Cicero on her way out.
X-x-X
Muiri was a very nervous young girl. It seemed as if she wasn't mentally prepared for what she had gotten herself into. She spoke in a whisper, despite them being alone, and poured her life story out to Fralia. She wanted her ex-boyfriend, Alain Dufont, killed. But he wasn't the only one. She also requested that Fralia go to Windhelm and kill Nilsine Shattershield as well. Her nerves made her very talkative. She provided all her reasons for wanting them dead as if she wanted the assassin to understand why she would do such a thing. She forgot she was in the presence of a killer. People like Fralia didn't need reasons. Once the contract was set up, Fralia and Jenassa made their way out of the stone city of Markarth and headed northeast. They would stop in Whiterun by nightfall and be killing in Raldbthar the next morning.
As they left the City of Blood and Silver, keeping an eye out for Forsworn, Jenassa finally asked why Fralia had that smile on her face ever since she got back from the sanctuary.
"You remember that Jester we met on the road that was taking his dead mother to a new crypt?" Fralia replied. Jenassa nodded. She remembered. He was a hard fellow to forget. "Well he was carting his mother... but not just his mother... he was transporting the Night Mother. Cicero is the Night Mother's keeper. A member of the dark brotherhood. He was at the sanctuary when we arrived." her smile brightened as she talked about the jester. Jen couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. There was a little more going on between her and Fralia than just companionship. That was undeniable.
"You really like him..." she said flatly. Fralia's smile faltered a bit. She couldn't deny it now. Seeing Cicero made her happy. She didn't want to have those kinds of feelings for him but she couldn't stop them either.
"I suppose i do..." she didn't want to... she was afraid. She had loved and lost once, she couldn't bear to go through it again. But then there was Jen... it was too late for that one. Wait was she jealous? Is that why she asked? Fralia urged her horse on faster but kept glancing at Jenassa, trying to divine her feelings. She thought more about Jenassa and a little about Cicero on the way to Whiterun instead of thinking about the contract.
The two were quiet for some time after entering their room at the Bannered Mare. Jenassa sat at the head of the bed eating a dinner of bread and wine while Fralia sat in the chair eating hers. The silence was tense. It wasn't the normal silence, either. Jenassa was used to silence. But this time, there was something waiting to be said. Something important. Nevertheless, the dark elf was taken by surprise when her bosmer counterpart put down her wine, looked directly at her, and crawled up on the bed towards her.
"Fralia...?" she didn't get the chance to say anything else. Fralia pulled her into a deep kiss, dispelling the tension. All sense of caution completely gone, Jenassa kissed her back, running her fingers through Fralia's hair, pulling her further into the kiss. The wood elf crawled closer, placing her hands on Jenassa's shoulders and pinning her to the wall, kissing her more passionately. It wasn't until they were both breathless that Fralia pulled away. Jen looked into her dark green eyes, searching. Fralia smiled and placed a soft kiss on the dark elf's forehead before speaking.
"Jen... I know I don't say it often, but I love you. You are very precious to me. I just don't know what I would do if i ever lost you." her expression showed just how deep her fear was. "Before I came here... i was in love with someone... and i lost them. I couldn't protect them. I never wanted to feel pain like that again. I became an adventurer. Traveled alone. Worked alone. I wanted to forget so badly what it was to feel... so i drowned it in blood. Jen, I'm scared. I'm so scared that one of these days, something or someone is going to take you from me. But no matter how hard i try, i can't forgot how i feel about you..." the mercenary was shocked. Was that it? Had Fralia just told her why she had left Valenwood? Because she lost someone she loved? She decided it would be best not to ask now. The bosmer seemed to be on the verge of tears which was extremely unusual and a bit scary. Instead, she held the wood elf tightly, hoping to dispell those negative thoughts.
"I love you too, Fralia... and I'm not going anywhere without a fight. You don't need to worry. Now get some sleep. You have contracts to take care of in the morning." Fralia held her dunmer tightly as they slept, as if she would disappear completely if Fralia wasn't touching her... she couldn't lose her...
The smell of skooma smoke filled the dark room. Her senses were heightened beyond anything she'd felt before. The sensation of his kisses on her neck, the brush of his dark fur on her pale skin, the sound of his seductive whisper in her ear, her legs wrapped tightly around his hips and the ecstasy of their intimacy. The only light was that of the moon through the shades over the window, just enough light for her to see the unnaturally bright blue eyes of her lover.
All ruined.
Destroyed.
Moment gone and replaced by panic...
Her father stormed in with wrath in his eyes. The idea of his daughter in the arms of some khajiit was beyond unthinkable to him. He struck. His dagger found its way through Ri'saara's heart. The khajiit's blood spilled out from his chest, drenching the shocked wood elf. It tainted her moonlight skin. It tainted her mind. The world around her filled with screaming, although this time the screaming was not the familiar cry of all of her past victims. It was not the addition of another soul in the dark receptacle that was her tortured mind. It was her own. It was the pained cry of one who had lost that which was precious to her. Ri'saara... Ri'saara! RI'SAARA!
She pulled her knife from under the bed and pounced, naked and drenched in the blood of the lost, upon this man who had taken her khajiit from one who had taken her sanity from her. Her red hair was messy and wild and flowed over her shoulders like a fountain of blood. She plunged her knife into her father's chest again and again and again, pouring out her pain and anger, screaming in anguish, tears falling from her hate filled eyes. She kept stabbing even after he was long since dead. Footsteps could be heard through the noise clouding her head. Her mother running down the hall towards the sound. The red haired bosmer cared not. The other creature cried in fear. She tried to pull her off the corpse she was so determined to tear apart. Bad decision. The cold, bloodstained steel cut through the neck of the woman who dared interfere. More blood. Warm, wet blood covered everything. The tears still came even as the knife finally fell from her hand.
On her knees, she was bent over, shaking, sobbing, heart torn apart in her chest. She finally found the strength to stand and turn to mourn over her lover's body. She stops. Still. Her broken heart pounding hard against her chest. Her breath coming fast and panicked. The woman. That elf. That's not a wood elf.
It's a dark elf.
It's Jenassa.
The house is engulfed in flames.
"NOOOOOOOO!" Fralia awoke with tears pouring from her eyes, panicking, every bit of her body and soul rejecting the horrid reality she had just seen. She leapt out of the bed, breathing heavily, pacing around the room before sitting against the wall, her knees up to her chest and her hands over her ears, desperate to hide from the screaming and the flames. She killed her. She killed Jen. In her rage she had slashed Jenassa's throat. She jumped when she felt someone trying to pull her hands away from her ears and a voice speaking to her. She couldn't hear through the wailing of her demons and her vision was filled with fire, but she could see Jenassa looking at her with concern. Jen... no don't come. Don't let me hurt you.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" She pushed Jen out of the way and rushed out of the Inn, out of Whiterun, ran as far as she could. She ran out of fear. She ran from the screaming and the fire. She ran right through the mountain pass, finding herself at the gate of Raldbthar. Her memory was already fading out. When had she drawn her sword? Whose blood was splattered on her Brotherhood robes? When had she changed? The voices pushed her onward. She caught glimpses of her assault. Blurred faces twisted in pain or frozen in surprise as they died. Flames engulfed them all as they fell to Dawnbreaker. In the back of her mind a softer voice was calling out to her. Consoling her. Praising her. Kill them, my little Nightshade. Kill them all. Pour out your hate, your fear, your sorrow... and drown it in blood. The clouds began to dissipate. His voice chased away the others. Eventually, all fell silent and she became aware that Alain Dufont lay dead at her feet.
Dawnbreaker fell from her grasp and she dropped to her hands and knees. Her breath came harsh and ragged. Exhaustion was catching up with her. She backed up against a pillar and curled up, burying her face in her arms. Her soft cries filled the empty chamber.