"So tell me, who is she exactly?"

"A girl from Skingrad. She was formerly a servant to a cruel master. It seems that he was the one who caused her to snap."

"Snap?"

"She has lived a fairly eventless life. At least, up until, he murdered her friend. She is now heading west to find him."

"So she has not yet killed?"

"Not yet, but I am fairly certain she will. Why else would the Night Mother have taken an interest in her, even if it is but a slight one? I have been keeping an eye on her for the past few days, and though she is an amateur now, I think she has the potential to be great."

A long pause.

"I trust your judgment my friend, but do you really think this is worth it? I mean, are you sure you are not just wasting valuable time?"

"Surely you do not doubt me Vicente?"

"But how can you be sure? You have always been right, but in these troubled times, it may be a risk we cannot afford to take."

Another pause.

"Whatever happens now, it is in the hands of Sithis, although he seems to have already granted her his dark blessing. Meanwhile, I will continue to follow her. I believe she plans on making her move tonight."

Vicente opened his mouth to respond, but Lucien had already vanished.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The interior of the ship was growing darker by the minute as the sun sank low on the horizon. Berwick could see the moons revealing themselves in the sky as the stars shimmered around them. The ship had just set out, and they were about 300 yards away from the dock.

He turned away from the small window and leaned back against a crate. The journey was going to be a long, boring one, but he didn't have much choice at this point. He needed to hide for a while, and he had connections in Hammerfell.

He grinned as he bit into an apple. He didn't regret what he had done; he would have done it again. The girl had resisted him. He told her not to or he wouldn't hesitate to kill. He had to silence her screams somehow.

"No one disobeys me and escapes alive." He laughed

"You seem so sure of yourself." A female voice responded from the shadows next to the door.

He jumped up at the sound of it. How had she gotten into the room? The door had not opened once the whole time he was there, and no one had followed him in.

"Who's there?!" he growled, readying himself for a fight.

"You should know me. I've worked for you for the past 15 years of my life."

He whirled. The voice came from the shadows to his left. He heard the woman, but he couldn't see her.

"Oh come now, surely you haven't forgotten me? You've forgotten your own maidservant? You've forgotten…"

Suddenly the voice was behind him. "… how that girl you killed was my only friend?"

He whirled and a robed figure shimmered into view. Her hood covered her face.

"How'd you get in here?" he stammered, backing up towards the opposite wall.

She lifted the hood back from her face, brushing her long hair out of her face. It took him a moment to realize who she was.

He gasped. "You?! But you're…" he laughed. The idiot girl thought she could kill him!

His laugh faded as she melted back into the shadows, completely disappearing from view. Maybe he had underestimated her…

"Come out in the open and fight if that's what ya want." He growled. He was surprised to find though, his voice and legs were shaking.

"Alright then." Arianna came back into view next to the window.

He yelled and barreled towards her. He would crush every bone in her body if he had to.

She easily dodged him and something flashed, catching the dim light. When he regained his balance, she was on the opposite side if the room. He felt a sharp pain in his side and looked down. Blood flowed out of a new gash in his side. He jerked his head back up, and saw that she held a sword in her hand.

He was growing more fearful by the second. He had underestimated her. He wasn't able to touch her, and she could make herself completely invisible. His strength was much greater than hers, though that amounted to nothing if she could dodge him.

Arianna stepped towards him, swords pointing down. He jerked his body up suddenly, and once again barreled towards her. His fists were raised. Sword or no sword, she stood no chance against him, she had nowhere to run…

He stopped dead in his tracks. She had stepped slightly to his right, their shoulders almost touching. She stared straight ahead, over his shoulder, not even bothering to look at what she had done. Her blade stuck through his body, piercing between his ribs.

Berwick choked, a small stream of blood running from his mouth. He started to fall back, taking a last swing at her. She ducked it easily, and in doing so, twisted the blade. He howled in pain, blood splattering his torso.

Arianna watched him falling back, eyes narrowed. As the man who had destroyed her past life lay bleeding out on the floor, Arianna felt nothing. No pleasure at seeing him dying, no remorse for what she had done. Her heart was icy, her mind calm and cool.

Suddenly there was a bang on the door and a muffled voice; "What's going on in there? Open up!"

Arianna jumped. She couldn't take on several sailors at once, even if she could turn invisible. Her eyes darted around the room.

BANG

They were trying to break down the door. Arianna searched desperately for something, anything. She reached down to take her blade, but at that moment the door flew open. She looked up and saw three sailors, all staring in shock at the scene before them.

Arianna turned on her heels, and leapt through the small window without thinking twice. By the time one of them had cried out, she had fallen into the water and was swimming for the shore, away from the dock.

XXXXXXXXXX

It was dawn the next day before Arianna made her way back to the stables. The people on the shore had heard the shouting on the ship, and guards went out in rowboats. But when they got there, Arianna was long gone, out of the water and running around the other unguarded side of Anvil.

Bersenger stood waiting for her at the fence, her bag held in his teeth. Arianna jumped onto the fence and vaulted onto Bersenger's back, gently pulling her bag out of his teeth. She turned Bersenger around to leave through the gate. The stable hand got up to hold it open for her, and as she was passing through, he cleared his throat.

"Your horse guarded your bag the whole time and he seems to understand speech pretty well. How did you train him to do that? I've been trying to do that with some of the horses here, but they just can't pick it up."

Arianna glanced at Bersenger. "Don't all horses do that?"

The stable hand raised an eyebrow. "Not Cyrodiillic horses."

Bersenger turned his head back, looking at Arianna. Arianna smiled. "I guess you're not all you seem to be then." She chuckled darkly before Bersenger leapt forward and plunged into the outer darkness, leaving the stable hand staring after them.

_________________________

A/N: Well, it finally happened. Now Arianna gets to go on with her life. ;)

Wow, I made it seem like Lucien's stalking her. I guess he is though. Stalking her in a non-stalker-ish way… I guess. Yeah.

Please write a review, I need those to survive. ;) Or at least to continue writing.