*Takes place several months after Drinks and Stairs.

I was walking through Markarth and down one of the staircases to visit my sister when something caught me off guard. Someone was curled up outside of the abandoned house past the inn. And I could have sworn it was Nelcara. I stopped suddenly, causing someone to run into me and yell a line of curses. After the second look I realized it was Nelcara. What was she doing? Was she hurt? I turned to go to her and ran. As I approached her I began to hear the sobs. But I didn't see any injuries. She had her hands over her face, rocking back and forth in front of the door, crying.

"Nelcara!" I yelled to get her attention. But she either didn't hear me or ignored me. As soon as I reached her, I knelt down and reached for her hands. "Nelcara" I called again, worried. There weren't any scars or obvious bruises on her face. Had someone hurt her? The tears continued to fall as she sobbed so hard it seemed as though she wasn't breathing. Her hair was hanging in her face, sticking to the tears. I brushed it away as I leaned in closer and softly called her name again. This time she looked up. The look on her face broke me and enraged me all at the same time. I wanted nothing more than to simultaneously wrap her in my arms and destroy whatever did this.

"What happened?" I asked in the same soft tone.

"I-i-it-I" she shook as she tried to get the words out. I put my hands on her arms to help still her. This was not the place to discuss this. I wrapped one arm under her arm and the other under her legs, picking her up. As I carried her home, she buried her head into my chest screaming I hate this city. I placed her on the bed and gave her a few minutes to calm down before I asked her anymore questions. At first I just stood in front of her, but she just shook and sobbed so violently. I ended up sitting next to her, wrapping my arms around her and stroking her hair. I didn't know what to do or if I was even helping. After a few more minutes, she began to pause for longer breathes and shake a little less.

"What happened?" I asked again.

"A vig-vigilant of stendar asked me for help. H-he said, he had reason to believe that the aband-abandoned house had been used for daedra worship."

I knew Nelcara didn't like dealing with daedra. Who really did besides the fools who worshipped them? But she had never reacted like this before. She was strong and fierce and took care of any she came across. Something terrible had obviously happened to get her this shaken up.

"I went inside with him. When we got to the basement, he realized something was t-terribly wrong. We ran for the door but it was locked." Her speech was slow, but at least it had become steadier. "A-nd Molag-Bol started talking. He wanted me to kill the Vigilant. I-I could feel him trying to influence my mind, b-but I refused. Then the room grew dark and-and furniture start to float. Molag-Bol convinced the Vigilant to attack me." She took a long pause after that, trying to breathe.

"I was forced to kill him" she said almost tearfully. "He then told me to go to the basement for my reward." She spat. "I-I didn't want to. But-but I couldn't get out." A slow stream of tears started down her face again.

"I went down and grabbed the mace but he trapped me in this…. S-spiked cage. He demanded I k-kill his rival. I told him no. I told him no over and over." She looked me in the face "I did" she said as if trying to convince me. "But h-he, got into my head." She lowered her head and covered her face with her hands, ashamed. "I lead the priest of Boethiah he wanted to the alter. And I…I…" she began sobbing again. The next part came out slow and broken as she tried to fight through the tears. "I beat him. He made me beat him and kill him."

I waited patiently for her to say more, but when I didn't say anything she turned to me. "You don't understand. I beat him!" she yelled. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy and the tears wouldn't stop. "Repeatedly. He was bound…couldn't fight back. I beat him bloody..into submission. And then…Molag Bol made me kill him." She screamed. And then whimpered, "I tried..i tried so hard to fight…I tried…"

I pulled her against me as she began to shake again. What could I do? "It's not your-" I tried to comfort her. But she wouldn't listen. "It was. I did it." She whimpered. "couldn't fight…I was weak."

She looked at me with the most pitiful expression. In a weak voice she asked, "Why aren't you mad?"
But I was. I was furious and angry. I had never been this enraged in my life. I wanted nothing more than to rip that building down, stone by stone, with my bare hands.

"Nelcara" I started. But she turned away, burying her head in my chest, not wanting to look at me. As gently as I could manage it, I pulled her back up to look me in the eyes. Wiping the tears away again I said, "You are a good, strong woman. This was not your fault. He's the Lord of Domination for a reason. You were only trying to help. You were doing what was right."

She sniffed as she tried to stop herself from crying. "And I am proud of you." I said. A look of confusion passed her face for a moment before she finally let out a slight smile. "I love you."

She had managed to calm down as the day went on. She was still shaken, but better. That night however, was horrible.

It had only been an hour or two when I woke up. I could feel the bed moving. As I turned around, I realized it was Nelcara thrashing. I had to shake her to wake her up. She gasped and jerked back, her eyes full of terror before she realized what was going on.

"You okay?" I asked. She was covered in sweat and breathing heavy.

"Yeah….yeah…bad dream." She said shaking as she rubbed her eyes. "Go back to sleep." She kicked the blanket off of herself and rolled over.

"Nelcara" I reached over to her but she shrugged me off.

"It's fine. Go to sleep." So I tried to, but it wasn't long before I was woken up again. This time she was whimpering. I called her name as I placed my hand on her arm. No answer. I shook her. No answer. She was shaking again. Not knowing what to do, I just pulled her towards me. I held her against me, rubbing her back, smoothing her hair, anything I thought might help. After a while she woke up briefly. She didn't say anything, just simply buried her face in my chest as she moved in closer. I stayed up, watching her and holding her. It seemed to help. She shook less.

She woke up again and for a few moments she didn't say anything, she didn't even move. But then she whispered, "He begged me to stop." I shushed her and stroked her hair to get her to sleep. "I'm sorry" whether she was apologizing for the nightmares or what had happened, I don't know. But I just shushed her again as I kissed the top of her head.

"Thank you" she whispered, before falling back to sleep. I kept an eye on her the rest of the night, never letting go. But she slept more peacefully after that.

Yes, I know that isn't technically how that quest went. But I took some liberties.