Summary: Castle Volkihar proves as surprising and dangerous as they imagined... but the biggest surprise of all has nothing to do with vampires.

From the High Queen's court to Castle Volkihar. A journey of only a few hours but in the bitter cold of a Skyrim night in the north and while the vampires were fine, and even Cicero was coping better than he let on, Eola could wish for some sunshine. Or just no snow. Or ice wraiths. Fortunately, fireballs sorted out most of the problems there.

The Blades camp at Northwatch Keep was still there with some supplies for them, and word was the castle was quiet. Delphine's people had done a good job of intercepting vampire traffic in and out of the place, including some spiky arcane chalice one patrol had been carrying. Said chalice was now at Hag's End and apparently Matriarch Keirine had gone into ecstatic hysterics over it. A valuable vampire relic apparently.

Ralof had helped with the boat, and then they'd taken themselves over the Sea of Ghosts, beaching on the western side of the island. Stony beach, dead trees, forbidding cliffs – it was not a prepossessing sight. But they'd persevered, through tougher than expected skeletons, a feral vampire, death hounds, traps, Athis accidentally knocking Cicero off a walkway into a pool full of wooden spikes (Cicero was fine but had to have some splinters removed from somewhere… undignified), giant spiders… in a way, finding Valerica's old herb garden was something of a relief. It was quiet. Peaceful. Would have been nice once – before someone had torn down the part of the castle separating it from the main hall and left it to get abandoned and overgrown.

"May I take it this was your mother's baby," Eola said, looking around. "Can't think of any other reason someone would have trashed an entire tower."

"Yeah, that's my father's work," Serana said, shaking her head sadly. "He must have wanted to destroy anything that reminded him of her. She used to love this place, used to grow herbs and flowers here, it was beautiful once. We used to come out here after dinner and tend it together. One of the few times I got to really spend time with her. It's..." Serana shook her head, turning away and sitting down on one of the stone benches, looking out at it in despair.

"She'd have hated to see it like this," Serana said bitterly. Eola had few childhood memories of time with her own parents – her father had been in prison for most of it, and as for her mother… no happy memories there. But Eola loved her father and knew he wouldn't want to see his own life's work ruined either. He didn't have a garden but he did have a country.

So Eola took Serana's hand, saying nothing, the two of them sitting in companionable silence while Cicero explored and poked around, and Athis followed him, mainly to make sure he didn't break anything, but also actually smiling and laughing good-naturedly at Cicero's excited squeaking.

It was always something of a surprise to see her boys hanging around together without her. She'd sort of expected there to be awkwardness… but there wasn't. Somewhere along the line, Cicero and Athis had become friends, and when Cicero called Athis brother these days, he meant it.

It brought a lump to Eola's throat. Focus, she told herself. They had a mission, right?

"We'll find her," Eola told her. "We'll find your ma, and maybe one day soon she'll be able to come home."

"Yeah," Serana said softly. "Maybe." But Serana looked out at the garden, or what was left of it, sadness in her eyes, and she didn't need to say that even if her mother could come back, seeing it like this would likely break her heart.

Meanwhile over by the moondial, Cicero and Athis had been poking at it, Cicero jumping around and cooing over the shiny moon crests, at least until he'd got bored of it and gone to have a look at other things… including something gleaming away in the nightshade.

He'd ended up tracking down not one but three moon crests lying around in the undergrowth, showing them to Athis with some excitement, and Athis had grinned and told him to see if they fitted the moondial.

"They do, they do, look brother, look, they fit, they do - eeeeek!" Cicero only just scrambled off the moondial in time as it started moving, running to Athis's side and clinging to him as the moondial rotated, revealing a spiral staircase leading down.

"By the Reclamations," Athis whispered, waving frantically at the two women who'd started on hearing the grinding stone. "Eola! Serana! Get over here! We found something!"

Eola and Serana exchanged looks and ran over to see what he'd found. Athis was staring at the stairs while Cicero was clasping his hands and bouncing excitedly.

"Look, look, Eola, look!" Cicero cooed. "We found a hidden passage! I wonder where it goes."

"No idea, but well done!" Eola said, smiling as she gave him a cuddle. Cicero was so easily pleased sometimes. It always made Eola smile. After all the hardship she'd had in her life, having him around was nothing short of a blessing. A handful he sometimes was, but he was a handful she'd come to rely on and she loved him just the way he was.

"Clever Mother," Serana whispered, amazed. "I had no idea this was even here!"

"So you have no idea where it goes either," Athis said, and Serana shook her head, grinning.

"No," Serana said, looking delighted at actually having found something. "Which means my father won't know it's here either. Which means if she did leave something here, this is where it'll be. Come on, let's see what's down here!"

Eola glanced over at the two men, and while Cicero's grin was expected, Athis's wasn't. And yet there he was, looking every bit as pleased as Cicero.

Eola's eyes met his, and Eola felt a sudden urge to kiss him. Hard. She wasn't entirely sure he wasn't feeling the same, and if Serana hadn't been calling for them to follow, and Cicero hadn't been tugging at her arm, she might just have done it.

But they had no time to linger and so Eola ran after Cicero, Athis at her heels, keen to see what did lie beneath. One thing was clear – you didn't go to all that trouble to hide something unless finding it would have consequences. Eola didn't know how right she was.

More tunnels. Skeletons. Gargoyles. Undead guardians all over the place, that would likely have ignored Valerica, but leapt out on the four of them without hesitating. Fireballs, Eola found. Fireballs helped. As long as you fired them first, before Athis and Cicero had closed with the opposition anyway.

The passage finally ended in a room with no less than three gargoyles who all attacked at once, and the resulting fight involved fireballs, reanimated gargoyles, Cicero grabbing Molag Bal's mace off Eola's belt to bludgeon them to death after it turned out his daggers weren't cutting it, and Athis discovering the joy of vampiric blood magic.

Afterwards all four of them sat on the steps, surveying the scene.

"Well!" Cicero said breathlessly. "That was exciting!"

"Yeah," Serana said, glancing around at the room with only the one exit, the one they'd come in by. "But now where? This is just a study, and we already searched all the other bits we had access to. This can't be it."

"We haven't searched this room yet," Eola said, looking around. Cupboards, a fireplace, there must be something, right? "Cicero, have a look round, poke everything, see what you can find." He'd sorted out the moondial, right? If there was anything hidden in here, Cicero would likely find it.

Cicero giggled and started by poking Eola. Then Athis. Then running off giggling before either could tell him off.

"But pretty Eola said to poke everything!" Cicero trilled, grinning back from a safe distance.

"Not us!" Athis snapped. "Find something useful!"

"You two are useful!" Cicero pouted, scampering back over and cuddling up to Athis, who just growled and patted Cicero on the back.

"Find. Something," Athis growled, getting to his feet. "Here, I'll give you a hand if you like."

Cicero squeaked even more and bounced off with Athis to keep him company, leaving Serana watching him and frowning.

"Am I not useful then?" Serana said, relieved to not have been poked but at the same time now feeling a bit left out.

Eola patted her hand, not sure whether the truth would be welcome or not but having little choice other than to go with it.

"Sure you are!" she told her. "I just think he thought it might bother you. I mean, more than anyone else. He's got some standards."

Serana raised both eyebrows and turned to look at Cicero, presently rooting around in a cupboard and producing a set of Royal Volkihar armour like hers and presenting it to Athis, exclaiming he should wear it, he'd look very handsome. So Athis took it and vanished behind a bookcase to get changed. Cicero turned and grinned at both women.

Serana waved back, smiling at Cicero who bowed and then wandered off to have a look at the fireplace. Serana watched before turning back to Eola.

"So how'd he get like that anyway?" Serana asked, finally feeling it was probably OK to ask about Cicero's… oddness by this point. "I can't help but notice he's a little bit… different."

Eola actually laughed. A tactful way of putting it, but Eola found she didn't mind talking to Serana about this.

"Yeah, he is that," Eola sighed. "Most of this is his story to tell, but he was part of this organisation back in Cyrodiil. They weren't mages or anything, but there was this occult power at the heart of it that Cicero ended up tending to after civil war or something like it wrecked the previous sanctuary. But the occult power was damaged. It didn't talk any more and they all thought their god abandoned them. So they all left, all except Cicero who was left tending this source that didn't even work. He… he was on his own for years, literally years. It… damaged him. He has these journals from back then, and let me read them, it was kind of heartbreaking just to see him slowly changing. Eventually he ended up as what he is now. And then he came north to Skyrim because there was another cell of his order still here and he thought they might help. But they didn't. They kicked him out, he ran away, ran into a fugitive High Queen, teamed up with her and now his old order are gone and he's with me now. And he's OK. He's not perfect. But he's OK and he's happy and everyone at Jorrvaskr looks after him and I make sure he gets out and about and has a regular supply of Things to Stab. So even if he's a little bit odd, he's OK, you know?"

Eola was aware of how defensive she sounded but she couldn't help it. She worried about Cicero anyway. But high-maintenance as he was, she liked having him around. No one else could cook like he could, or bake those little fondant fancies she liked.

"He seems it," Serana said, eyeing him carefully. "Years of solitary, you say? Poor thing. No wonder he's so, well, friendly. He must be terrified of being alone."

It wasn't exactly something Cicero was fond of, it was true. He could of course do solo missions, and often did. But he liked knowing there was a home and family to come back to, even if it wasn't his blood family, not any more. But Eola had promised to love him, now and forever. She'd do her best to try and provide him with the family he'd lost.

Cicero chose that moment to squeal as he turned a candlestick which turned out to actually be a lever that opened a secret passage.

"Hey, did he find something?" Serana gasped. "I didn't think he actually would!"

Eola felt rather proud of her little fool.

"He is full of surprises," Eola smirked as she scrambled up. "Didn't I tell you he'd find something? Come on, let's see where this goes!"

Serana got up and followed, keen to see what her mother had hidden away this time. This had to have a clue as to where she'd gone.

Whatever they'd been expecting, it wasn't the huge magical research laboratory that could put Hag's End to shame.

"Wow," Eola breathed. "Look at this, if Auntie Keirine were here, she might actually cry from jealousy!"

"Hagravens can cry?" Serana asked, having met Keirine and been unsure whether to attack, flee or just be grateful there was a family and indeed society out there more messed up than her own. She'd gone for the third option. Hags were notorious for their fireballs.

"I don't know, but she'd want this," Eola said, gazing at it all in amazement. "I mean, look at it – the alchemy lab, enchanting table, all the rare reagents, the library – are those dragon bones over there?"

"They might well be," Serana said, staring at it all. "Gods, look at it, I had no idea this was even here!"

"Your mother never told you about it?" Eola asked, following Serana over to the central… feature. Some sort of circular structure not dissimilar to the tomb Serana had been trapped in. A bit like a Hag's altar in atmosphere but not in function. It was the focal point, no doubt about it, but what did it do?

"Not a word," Serana said quietly. "I've got no idea what she was doing here. Well, looking for some way to bring my father down, but what were her plans? She must have kept a journal somewhere, or notes at least."

"On it!" Athis called, already going through the various books stacked up on the shelves in the corner, while Cicero was already inspecting the alchemy supplies. Somewhere along the line he'd picked up an interest in the subject – mostly brewing deadly poisons although he did do a mean healing potion as well.

Eola had a feeling Valerica's laboratory would soon be missing an awful lot of alchemy ingredients. Fortunately Serana didn't seem to mind, staring down at the focal point.

"What is it," Eola said softly. "Do you think it's the door way to the next part of the castle? Has your ma stored the Scroll there, do you think?"

"Maybe?" Serana said dubiously. "I don't think it'll be as simple as all that though."

Was it ever? But Athis had found something and was making his way over, a journal in hand.

"Found it," Athis said, holding it out. "It's talking about Harkon being obsessed, Valerica being furious with him, enacting plans to get you to Dimhollow, and a way of reaching something called the Soul Cairn."

All eyes turned to the portal below them, and Eola hastily stepped away from it. Cicero also came sidling down the stairs, curious to see what they'd found.

"Let me see that," Serana said sharply, taking the journal and reading. "The Soul Cairn… seriously? She went there? Mother, you fool… she always warned me about that place!"

Eola was nodding, clearly having also heard several warnings about it from one of the many necromancers in her own family, but Cicero and Athis were both looking at each other, by this point very confused.

"What is the Soul Cairn, lovely Eola?" Cicero whispered, cuddling up to Eola. "Cicero has not heard of it..."

"Ma mentioned it a few times," Eola said quietly. "And Keirine told me more. You know how if you soul trap someone, you can use their soul for an enchantment? Well, when you've used it, it doesn't get used up. Keirine reckons they go somewhere – to a place called the Soul Cairn."

"And you think Valerica went there?" Athis said, appalled. "In Azura's name, why?"

"It looks like she was trafficking in souls with the Ideal Masters," Serana said, eyes not leaving the journal. "I think… yes, I think she was trying to make a deal with them for sanctuary in the Cairn. To get away from Father."

"Well, he'd never find her there," Eola said softly. "But that's a desperate act. Auntie always told me never to trust the Ideal Masters, and I lost count of the number of times Ma threatened to sacrifice me to them as a kid." She noticed the sudden appalled looks that the others were giving her, especially Serana, which was a bit rich seeing as her parents actually had sacrificed her to Molag Bal.

"She locked Serana away to keep her safe," Athis said at length, breaking the awkward silence. "She must have been desperate."

But to turn to the notoriously deceptive Ideal Masters for help… that never ended well.

"So we think she is in this Soul Cairn with the Scroll," Cicero said, peering at the journal. "How do we find her?"

Serana flipped a page and smiled as she came across a list of ingredients. "Here we go… you need to mix these somehow – purified Void Salts, finely ground bone meal, pulverised Soul Gem fragments..."

"Cicero has seen those!" Cicero squeaked. "Cicero shall find them, wait here!" And off he scampered to round everything up. Serana however still didn't look happy.

"Something wrong?" Eola asked, sensing Serana wasn't saying everything. Serana nodded unhappily.

"Yeah. There's another ingredient. Her blood. Which, if we could get that… we wouldn't need to be doing this in the first place."

Bloody fucking hell. Using one's own blood to bind the mixture to you… but Eola knew her blood magic, and the thing about blood was that it wasn't just yours. Your kin's blood was similar.

"You have her blood," Eola and Athis both said at the same time, and Eola looked and stared at him, just as he stared back, both apparently not having expected the other to come out with that, and then Athis laughed, glancing away.

"Should have known you'd realise that too," he admitted.

"Surprised you did," Eola said, raising an eyebrow. "You into blood magic then?"

"I'm a Dunmer," Athis said, shrugging. "There's barely a Dunmer family of any standing that doesn't have ancestor relics tucked away somewhere and a few rituals involving using the blood of a descendant to ensure the link stays strong. Like this portal seal of Valerica's maybe? An ancestor might use their blood to seal something, but often they might intend for their descendants to be able to open it in time of need."

"Now's a time of need all right," Serana sighed. "All right, it's worth a try. Better stand back when we do this though. I don't know what's going to happen."

And so they gathered by the ledge overlooking the portal, Cicero having already added the ingredients to the brazier, and now all three were standing back, watching as Serana sliced her wrist open and let Volkihar blood drop in.

The result was immediate as the entire room lit up, the floor rotating and dropping into a chasm of some sort, steps leading down to a portal, glowing with an unearthly light that didn't actually dispel shadows.

"Well, it worked," Athis said with forced cheerfulness. "Shall we see where it goes?"

Nowhere good, Eola was sure. But Cicero had inherited his Nord father's bravery if not his distaste for the occult, and was already bouncing down the steps eagerly. At least until he got into the light proper and promptly began shivering.

"Eola?" Cicero wailed, and his skin had gone a very peculiar colour and he began to shake all over. "Eola, I don't like it, Eola, help me, EOLAAAA!"

"Cicero?" Eola cried, not having heard him scream like that in a long time, if ever. "CICERO!"

Athis promptly dashed past her, sprinting down the steps and, apparently unaffected by whatever was happening to Cicero, grabbed him and hauled him out of there, Cicero clinging on to Athis all the while and eventually collapsing at Eola's feet.

Eola dropped down next to him and cuddled him as soon as he was safe, not liking how cold his skin felt at all.

"Athis, get him a potion," Eola told him, all the while casting healing magic on him. It took a few minutes but Cicero was soon looking a bit healthier – not nearly so pale at any rate.

"Are you all right?" Eola whispered, stroking his cheek. Cicero nodded, cutting a very pitiful figure indeed.

"That was not nice, sweetling!" Cicero sniffled. "It felt like something was sucking the life out of poor Cicero! Cicero didn't like it!"

"What was it?" Athis said, sitting behind Cicero and rubbing his back. "Serana? And… why was it affecting Cicero and not me? I felt a bit cold but it didn't do me any harm."

"I feared this might happen," Serana sighed, face in shadows apart from her glowing vampire eyes. "It's the Soul Cairn. It's always hungry for souls… for life. Vampires are already dead so it leaves us alone, but if someone living tries to cross over… it starts to feed on them."

Cicero whimpered, clinging on to Eola in terror. Serana tried to sound reassuring, but honestly, it wasn't great news.

"Don't worry, Athis got him in time, Cicero's not suffered any lasting damage," Serana told him. "But… unless I turn you both into vampires, I think you're going to have to stay behind."

No reaction from either Cicero or Eola, other than the two turning to look at each other rather nervously.

"We would be undead creatures of the night," Cicero murmured. "Forced to drink the blood of others to survive."

Actual laughter from Eola. "Not that different then. And we could get the Reach's blood programme to support us, you know Da would be OK with that."

"Would he," Cicero said, frowning and staring at her. "Cicero is not so sure. Cicero thinks it might upset him."

A pause from Eola, who was about to argue the point, and then it occurred to her, no, her elderly father might not want his baby princess to turn into a vampire, he wasn't exactly comfortable with his sister being a Hagraven, although he'd certainly made good political use of it.

"And we'd lose our beast blood as well," Eola sighed. "Aela'd kill us. Damn." She looked up at Serana, gritting her teeth. "Any other options?"

"Well, there is one..." Serana said, and her face said it all about what sort of option it was. "Only you're not going to like it."

"Figures," Eola said wearily, already having an idea where this might be going. "What is it?"

"The Soul Cairn wants souls, so we give it one," Serana said. "Yours."

Cicero said nothing, just blinking at Serana as if not entirely sure he'd heard her correctly, Eola mentally cursed her luck as her worst fears were confirmed… and Athis lost patience.

"What?" Athis snapped. "You can't soul trap someone, it kills them! And if they end up in the Soul Cairn… no, absolutely not."

"Well, I never said I'd trap their entire soul!" Serana cried. "Look, I can partially soul trap them and offer that to the Ideal Masters, and then they can come in. It'll make them a bit weaker, but they should be able to cross the barrier. And we might be able to fix that on the other side… maybe. If we can find Mother, she can probably help."

"There are a lot of ifs, maybes and probablies in that sentence," Athis said, pursing his lips. "I really don't like this."

"Thankfully, it's not you living with it," Eola said, getting up and helping Cicero to his feet. "I guess we don't have much option. If we can find where our pieces of souls went once we're over there, we can get back out again with them, but I recommend finding Valerica and the Scroll first. I don't think the Ideal Masters will appreciate being cheated of their due."

Cicero nodded too, clearly unwilling to abandon Eola to this, and Athis gave in. He couldn't tell her what to do, never could.

And so Serana began the initial magical scan intended to find the fault-lines and weaknesses in a soul so as to prise off a loose bit rather than damage it further (and given murdering a sentient being is one of the surest ways to fracture a soul, both Cicero and Eola had a lot of loose soul bits). Cicero's was soon complete, and then Serana started Eola's… and stopped.

"What?" Eola said, not liking the look in Serana's eyes. "What's wrong? What did you find?"

"That's weird," Serana said, frowning. "You've got extra souls. A bit like spirit possession but not… because that's usually in the head, but this is much further down in your abdomen. They're right here, two of them, but they're really small and unformed. I've not seen anything like it before."

"Oh," Eola whispered, feeling a bit faint and dizzy, and then she had to sit down very very quickly as several things became apparent at once: that somehow, certain potions hadn't done their job, and then the horrified remembrance of Keirine sternly telling her the potions had expiry dates and to ensure she ordered a fresh batch in time next time, and that it had been a while since she'd last had to put up with a monthly bleeding and…

Eola felt like she was going to be ill. Parenthood? TWINS? Cicero was already sitting by her side fretting and fussing and Athis… Eola looked up and saw that while Cicero seemed not to have worked it out yet, Athis clearly had. He knelt on her other side, taking her hand.

"I'm not going anywhere," Athis said quietly. "Even if they're Cicero's. For as long as you need me, I'm here."

"Even if what is Cicero's?" Cicero demanded, before he stared at Eola's belly and it finally dawned on him.

Cicero's eyes widened, face going pale, he looked up at Eola and stared at her in horror… and then promptly fainted.

"Oh gods," Eola whispered, tears in her eyes, because they'd never discussed it, not really, both agreeing they were fine without kids, and Cicero had been assiduously taking potions as well, up until it turned out the male ones gave werewolves… side effects. Specifically, body hair, so much body hair that it was growing on Cicero's back and shoulders, and his cheeks were raw from frantic shaving three times a day, and in the end Eola had told him to come off the potions. He'd cried from relief afterwards. Other men might not have minded, just grown a beard and been done with it, but Cicero wasn't most men, was he, and the thought of growing fur upset him. And now here he was, likely going to be a father because Athis had been on them as well, he'd not had to stop. Unexpectedly, with no warning whatsoever, and likely when he came round, he'd freak out.

I just lost Cicero, or I lose my kids. Neither option appealed and that was when Eola realised that, scared though she was, part of her sort of wanted to, or at least would protect her kids to the death.

Serana was at Cicero's side, gently helping him up, although she still looked confused.

"What's going on?" she whispered. "Why did Cicero just pass out?"

"I might be pregnant," Eola manage to say. "I need to speak to my aunt or a priest or… but we always said we weren't having kids! Cicero never wanted them!"

Cicero had just opened his eyes, heard this and promptly whimpered, curling up into a little ball.

"Oh Sithis," he whispered, closing his eyes again.

"Oh," Serana whispered, stroking Cicero's back. "I mean, oh! But… I mean, I could work with that. There's two, so one each, I could use them!"

"No!" Eola and Athis both cried, and even Cicero twitched.

"But..." Serana gave up arguing, besides it occurred to her some people actually cared about their children, and it appeared Eola and Athis at least were among that group. "OK. But that means Eola needs to stay behind, because I have no idea what going into the Soul Cairn is going to do to a pregnant woman. She might… the Ideal Masters might take those souls anyway."

"Fuck that," Eola snapped, and Athis squeezed her hand.

"Quite," Athis said, approving, before glaring at Cicero. "And you? What are you doing? Apart from failing completely at being supportive?"

"SHUT UP BROTHER, CICERO'S LIFE HAS JUST BEEN UP-ENDED, YOU COULD SHOW SOME SYMPATHY!" Cicero raged at him, before calming down and appearing to regain some semblance of control.

Athis was about to say something but Eola beat him to it.

"FUCK RIGHT OFF CICERO, YOU'RE NOT THE PREGNANT ONE!" Eola roared at him, and Cicero flinched back, before looking at Eola, the very picture of misery.

"Sweetling?" Cicero whispered tearfully. "Pretty Eola?"

"Just go," Eola whispered, suddenly no longer sure of anything. "Serana, do the soul trap thing on him, take him with you. Athis, you should go too. I'll wait here."

"Will you be all right?" Athis whispered, getting up but his eyes not leaving her. Eola nodded, smiling a little despite the tears in her eyes.

"I think so," Eola whispered. "Come back soon, yeah?"

"Always," Athis murmured, kissing her on the lips, a kiss that soon got a little heated, at least until the high-pitched whining noises Cicero was making distracted them. He was staring at Eola looking absolutely heartbroken. Eola could barely bring herself to look at him. And Athis… he had no idea what happened now. But assuming Eola decided to stay pregnant, he'd take care of her. He had all the time in the world, he could afford to spend a couple of decades helping look after two human children. Cicero though, Cicero looked terrified. Well. Maybe he'd sort himself out in time. In the meantime, taking him to the Soul Cairn and letting him have at whatever they found there would help, right?

It might. And the fact that Cicero looked so desperately unhappy might be a good thing. It meant he might not leave just yet.

And so Cicero submitted to the soul trap treatment, and the three of them made their way into the Soul Cairn. Maybe everything was about to change but they had a job to do. That at least hadn't changed.

A/N: Yep, thought I'd reshuffle the relationships AGAIN. We'll see how Cicero copes with the idea. Either very well or very badly, I suspect.