Summary: Serana confronts her mother and finally exorcises a few old ghosts... but no one was expecting Cicero to do the same with his father's legacy.

A/N: So there's kind of two story threads in this one - first the Dawnguard questline. But there's also the tail end of the Companions questline, which never happened in WQA, but has since occurred before this one started... but the full events were never revealed. Until now.

The Soul Cairn turned out to be as depressing as expected. It was a blasted landscape, with withered trees, collapsed ruins, gothic towers, lightning studding a mottled black sky, the souls of the damned roaming the place, and Cicero huddled up to Athis, whimpering a bit.

"It feels lonely," Cicero whispered. "Lonely and too quiet and… Athis, do not leave me!"

"I won't," Athis said quietly. "Come on. Let's not linger."

Serana was already heading in the direction of a large citadel on the horizon, and so the two men followed, both glancing nervously around, which was useful when the undead turned up. Black skeleton archers – not difficult to kill, but all the same, to be watched. Nevertheless, they weren't the real obstacle. The real obstacle was Cicero trying to talk to each and every soul they met, wringing his hands over their fate and sympathising, and things finally came to a head when he met the soul of a warrior who'd lost his horse.

"Of course!" Cicero cried. "Of course I'll find Arvak for you! Wait here! Cicero shall be back!"

And so Cicero ran off, heedless of Serana and Athis calling after him, and they ended up chasing him halfway across the Soul Cairn, to where undead skeletal mages were hovering around a plinth with a horse's skull on it.

"DIE!" Cicero howled, daggers flicking out, and yes, he was taking on all six of them at once.

"I thought he was a stealth specialist!" Serana hissed at Athis as she starting flinging ice spikes.

"He is," Athis sighed. "Just sometimes he gets urges to wreak havoc. Also he once said to me that once stealth is broken, the fight is won by the one who fully commits to it, that you gain nothing by being fainthearted. So once they spot him, he just goes for it."

"He's certainly going for it," Serana had to admit. The fight was soon won, and then Cicero was scampering off with the skull, returning it to the grateful soul who'd been the horse's previous owner… and getting a conjuration spell for his trouble that meant he now had his very own glowing skeletal undead horse from Oblivion.

"Cicero has an Arvak!" Cicero announced proudly.

"Oh my god," Serana muttered, and Athis just patted him on the back and led him off. Somewhere around here was Serana's mother. Time to find her.

The big citadel seemed the best place to start. Cicero bounded up the stairs to the main entrance, and abruptly stopped, poking at the air and frowning.

"Serana?" Cicero called. "Serana! Serana, Cicero cannot get past, Cicero doesn't know what it is." He pawed ineffectually at what turned out to be a magical barrier, but who'd put it there and how to open it was a mystery.

Serana came running up and quietly cursed at it.

"It's unbreakable," Serana hissed. "The foci for it must be somewhere else… wait. Mother?"

Movement in the shadows, and on the other side of the barrier, a woman glided into view, dressed in armour like Serana's, pale skin, glowing eyes, dark hair in buns and a severe expression on a face which had been that of a forty-something matron when she'd been turned. Valerica Volkihar.

"Serana?" she cried, eyes widening as she made her way forward. "Is that you? What are – what are you doing here?"

"Mother!" Serana cried, hands pressed to the barrier, face close to the barrier, childish delight on her face – but Valerica's expression was furious. "We came to find you!"

"You stupid child!" Valerica cried. "You were supposed to remain in Dimhollow, for your own safety!"

"I was!" Serana protested. "Then these two rescued me!"

Cicero waved cheerfully, beaming at Valerica, who visibly shuddered. She barely spared Athis a second glance.

"That one is a victim of Sanguinare Vampiris, and the other one is clearly a halfwit. Why either is in the company of my daughter, I dread to think." She stared Serana down, clearly still furious. "Did you tell them nothing?"

"Mother!" Serana cried, visibly hurt. "Mother, please, we need your help! We came all this way to find you!"

"Cicero gave up part of his soul to come here!" Cicero added, starting to frown himself. "We went to a lot of trouble! You are Serana's mama, you should not be so cruel to her when you have not seen her in so long!"

Valerica growled, before rounding on Cicero.

"And who are you to interfere?" Valerica snapped, advancing on him, and Cicero took a step back, hiding behind Athis and whimpering. "You, a human of no particular note or intelligence, and a vampire of impure blood, in the company of my daughter? Serana has sacrificed everything to stop Harkon bringing the prophecy to fruition! I would have expected her to explain that to you!"

"She explained how you and your husband sacrificed her to Molag Bal!" Athis snapped, losing his temper… and Valerica's face twisted into a snarl.

"You. Know. Nothing!" Valerica hissed, her face briefly twisting into something not far off Keirine's unmasked face, before calm reasserted itself and the vampire withdrew.

"Tradition dictates that the females in our family would be offered to Molag Bal on his summoning day. It was an honour to be selected."

"IT IS NOT AN HONOUR, IT IS APPALLING!" Cicero shouted, brave enough to peep out from behind Athis. "MAMAS AND PAPAS SHOULD NOT SACRIFICE THEIR BABIES TO THE DAEDRA!"

Lightning flashed through the sky, and Cicero squeaked, hiding behind Athis as the thunder deafened him and stole his bravery.

Valerica barely moved, staring impassively at them both in the lurid purple light, expression barely changing.

"It was expected of her as it was expected of me," Valerica said stiffly. "And I do not have to stand here discussing our family history with the likes of you! Serana." She turned back to her daughter, who'd been watching all this with something like horror on her face.

"I need hardly remind you of the danger, surely," Valerica snapped at Serana. "Every moment one of us walks in Tamriel puts the world in that bit more danger. Serana, for all our sakes, go-"

"No," Serana whispered, and both Cicero and Athis realised simultaneously that that wasn't fear in her voice or sadness or anything so harmless. Serana was furious.

"Serana?" Valerica gasped, amazed, and both men realised that if they hadn't seen Serana angry before, Valerica probably never had. Serana had probably never stood up to her mother before in her life.

"You never bothered asking me if I wanted to be shut away from everything I cared about!" Serana shouted, her own face starting to shift into a monster's. "You just assumed I'd go along with it, like always! You and Father, you're as bad as each other! Maybe he was obsessed with the prophecy but you were just as obsessed with hurting him! Neither of you ever stopped to think about how I felt! He was still my father! I loved him once! Why can't you understand how that made me feel?"

Blood-stained tears were rolling down Serana's face but she barely seemed to notice. Valerica had though and she was reaching out, fingers brushing the barrier even as Valerica's face looked on, stricken.

"Serana," Valerica whispered but Serana was past caring.

"These two have done more for me in the few weeks I've known them than you have in centuries," Serana whispered. "And we'll find Auriel's Bow, with or without your help! Come on, Cicero, Athis, we're going." And with that Serana turned to leave, cape fluttering behind her.

Valerica gasped, staring at her daughter's retreating back, then turned to stare helplessly at Cicero and Athis, neither of whom were remotely equipped to help solve familial problems.

"This might be the point at which you tell her you were wrong," Athis said, nodding at Serana, and Cicero nodded enthusiastically.

"Grovelling has always worked for poor Cicero," Cicero added, helpful as ever. Valerica sighed and gave in, admitting defeat.

"Serana, wait!" Valerica cried. "Don't go! I'm sorry!"

Serana stopped, hesitated, then turned, slowly approaching, still wary.

"Sorry for what?" Serana said, guarded. Valerica stared at her feet, and when she next spoke, she sounded utterly unlike the commanding matriarch she'd been before.

"I didn't know that was how you felt," Valerica said quietly. "I… am sorry. I didn't have any better ideas. I shouldn't have treated you that way."

Serana stared back, not sure how to react, glancing nervously at Cicero and Athis. Athis nodded back at her while Cicero beamed and gave her a thumbs up. Serana sighed and turned back to her mother.

"Um… thanks," Serana said quietly. "I mean… I don't know if we can actually ever be a family again. Maybe that's not for us. But I don't want to be a pawn any more. I need to be able to do my own thing for once."

"I understand," Valerica said quietly. "If you think these two are trustworthy… and sufficient protection against Harkon." She still didn't look like she entirely believed that was the case, but Cicero kept smiling anyway.

"They've got friends in high places," Serana told her mother, actually smiling. "Turns out they know the High Queen of Skyrim. She's putting an army together to march on the castle."

Valerica looked like she was about to faint.

"The castle… an army of mortals… then the court is lost. There are too many of them. They will destroy us! This is what I never wanted to happen!" She looked distraught.

"It's not like that!" Serana cried. "She's not going to declare war on all vampires. She just wants to stop Harkon because he's attacking her people."

"So she says," Valerica said scornfully. "And will it stop there? Or, once Harkon is overthrown, will she proceed to exterminate all our kind?"

Serana opened her mouth to speak until she remembered Isran and his Dawnguard, and realised, no, they weren't as safe as all that, Isran wouldn't stop until all vampires were dead… Serana began to wonder if she'd done the right thing, and then Athis spoke up.

"Of course she won't. Elisif's reasonable. She didn't stab me on sight, or Serana neither. She told Isran of the Dawnguard to get his hide out of the Blue Palace and spoke to us in her own private chambers with her little girl in the same room. She's not gonna start murdering law-abiding vampires. Not when she married the King of the Reach. The man legalised vampirism, set up a register and a blood service so they don't have to feed on people."

"That will make it easier to round us all up when the time is right," Valerica said bitterly, then she realised who he'd referred to. "Wait, those barbarians have a king?"

"King Madanach!" Cicero cooed. "He's very nice and very frightening! Cicero married his daughter, you know."

"Married his..." Valerica looked Cicero up and down, disbelieving. "I see. Well, he is a barbarian hill warrior, I suppose. I suppose that thin hope of safety will have to do. Well now, I suppose you are after the Elder Scroll I brought with me, in hopes of uncovering the rest of the prophecy. You seek Auriel's Bow – yes, that would make sense. But you don't know what was in my scroll. You don't know that the key to the Tyranny of the Sun is Serana herself."

"Serana herself?" Athis said, frowning at Serana, who was looking alarmed.

"The Blood of Coldharbour's Daughter will blind the eye of the Dragon," Valerica intoned quietly. "Daughters of Coldharbour, pure-blooded vampires who have been through the ritual to Molag Bal. Serana and I among them. A blood sacrifice of one of us, Auriel's Bow – if this were to be done, it could put out the sun permanently. And here you are, tracking down the bow and delivering Serana right to him."

"No!" Serana cried.

"We would never!" Cicero cried. "Cicero doesn't want the sun put out!"

"And you, vampire," Valerica sniffed at Athis. "Don't tell me you wouldn't want eternal night."

"Of course I wouldn't!" Athis shouted. "I'm a bloody Companion of Jorrvaskr, I'm going to be a father, I don't want my kids never knowing sunlight!"

"You're a Companion?" Valerica said, surprised. "By the gods, their standards have fallen. An elven vampire? Good gods. All the same, Jorrvaskr – they were honourable if nothing else. Very well. Give me your sworn word as a Companion that neither you nor Cicero will betray Serana or me to Harkon."

"I swear it," Athis promised. Valerica stared into his eyes for a few seconds and then nodded.

"All right. You can have my Scroll. It's here, in this courtyard behind me. However, there is a problem. You have seen this barrier."

"Yes, did you raise it?" Serana asked, reaching out to touch it. "Can you lower it?"

"Lower it?" Valerica laughed mirthlessly. "Hardly. I never raised it. When I came here, I intended to strike a bargain with the Ideal Masters – a supply of souls in return for sanctuary. Had I foreseen the value they would place on my own, I never would have come here."

"They've trapped you here!" Serana gasped. Valerica nodded.

"I'm afraid so," Valerica said grimly. "I fled here and they imprisoned me. And now we sit here, waiting, to see who will give in first. Time has very little meaning to me, therefore it has very little meaning to the Ideal Masters either."

"How do we get you out of here," Serana said, hands pressed against the barrier as she glared at it. Alas, Serana's rage alone wasn't enough to bring it down.

"Find the Boneyard Keepers," Valerica told her. "You'll find them in those towers – there's three of them. Kill them, the barrier falls. But beware, there's a dragon, Durnehviir, who guards this prison. When the barrier falls, he'll be sure to investigate."

"Dragons? Here?" Athis muttered. "Bloody hell."

"Oh, do not worry, Cicero will deal with it," Cicero cooed, looking far too confident for Athis's liking. "Cicero has killed dragons before!"

Yes, with half the Companions and a Dragonborn Queen and her guards to back him up. But nevertheless, he was a good shot with a bow. This might not go quite so terribly wrong. Might not.

"Oh, and Serana," Valerica was saying to her daughter. "Good luck, my dear."

"Thank you," Serana whispered, before calling for Cicero and Athis to follow after her. Time to kill some Keepers.

Serana got about five hundred feet away from the prison before her knees gave out and she collapsed on the Soul Cairn's black dirt floor.

Athis was by her side in seconds, and Cicero was cooing over her too.

"Are you all right?" Athis asked. Serana nodded, but she looked exhausted.

"I think so. I mean, I will be. Just… give me a minute. I mean… gods, did I just do that?"

"Yes!" Cicero squealed. "You did, you did! You stood up to your mother, you told her off! Cicero is so proud of you!" Cicero even gave Serana a hug before remembering and letting her go… but to his surprise, Serana actually smiled at him and put an arm around him.

"Thank you," Serana said quietly. "Both of you. I – I don't think I could have done this without you." Then she was hugging Athis as well, smiling and laughing, and both men hugged her back, glad to see Serana finally smiling at last.

"I think it's gonna be OK," Serana said softly. "I mean… there's still Father. And he's never going to admit he was wrong. I – I think we're still going to have to kill him."

"Sorry," Athis said quietly at the same time as Cicero cheerfully said "Yes! We will!"

Pointed looks from Serana and Athis and Cicero quietly coughed and had the grace to look a bit ashamed of himself.

"I mean… er… Lord Harkon is a very bad man, Serana!" Cicero said gently, patting her arm. "If he does not come along quietly – and we all know it is very unlikely – it will be necessary to-"

"I know," Serana said softly. "And no I'm not ready. I don't think you can ever be ready to kill your parent. But after everything that's happened, I don't think we have any choice. You two will be there, right?"

"Of course!" Cicero cooed and Athis nodded too.

"Of course."

"Thank you," Serana said. "And… and if I can't do it… you have to. If he won't surrender and I can't kill him, you two need to step in and do it for me."

"Cicero will do it," Cicero promised. "You can count on me. Cicero's never failed a job yet."

"And if you ever do, it won't be for want of trying," Athis said. Cicero might have his flaws, the mental instability, the dark past, the offputting cheeriness – but one thing he'd never lacked was determination. It had been something Kodlak had always liked and respected in Cicero.

Cicero looked up, beaming and nodding enthusiastically.

"Come on!" he cooed. "Let's kill some Keepers!"

And off they went.

The first Keeper turned out to be a massively tall wraith in dragonbone armour and a mace bigger than Cicero. It took Cicero shooting it and staying well out of the way, Athis being very quick on his feet and Serana's magic, but eventually it died.

Then the next one, on the other side of the Soul Cairn in a giant throne, and then the final one died when Cicero changed into beast form and shoved it off the top of the tower it was occupying.

"I should look away for this bit, shouldn't I?" Serana said as Cicero bounded back, standing over his clothes protectively.

"That you should," Athis said, and before long, Cicero had changed back and was getting dressed while Athis and Serana retrieved his stuff… including a small brown leather journal that had fallen out of Cicero's pocket.

"What's this?" Serana said, reading it. "The journal of Kodlak Whitemane? Who was that?"

"The previous Harbinger, but why's Cicero carrying his journal around?" Athis took the journal off Serana and turned to Cicero, staring firmly at him. "Cicero?"

Cicero was staring at the journal, face pale and horrified as his expression twisted into one of cold fury.

"Give it back!" Cicero hissed. "It is not yours! It is CICERO'S!"

"It's an old deceased friend's private journal, is what it is!" Athis snapped. "How long have you had this? Did you go through his things?"

"Someone had to!" Cicero cried. "Eola needed to clear his room out anyway and Eorlund sent Cicero to find the last bit of Wuuthrad! Cicero found the journal, Cicero read it… IT IS CICERO'S, GIVE IT BACK!"

"You read his journal?" Athis shouted. "You sneaking little…!"

"IT IS MINE, IT IS MINE, GIVE IT BACK!" Cicero howled, flinging himself at Athis and the two men scuffled… until Serana intervened and pulled them apart.

"Hey! That's enough!" Serana cried, shoving Cicero back and positioning herself in front of Athis. "Cicero, why do you have a dead man's journal on you and why is it so important?"

Cicero was still reaching desperately out towards Athis, his expression nothing sort of panicked.

"It is mine," Cicero whispered. "It's all I have of him, please..."

"What, of Kodlak?" Athis said, staring at the journal. "Why… Cicero? What about Kodlak? I know you were friendly with him, I know he was fond of you, but why would you want his journal?"

Cicero closed his eyes and lowered his face, dropping to the floor and sitting with his back against the wall, looking utterly defeated.

"Kodlak died saving me," Cicero whispered. "That day the Silver Hand came… we were in the main hall, he'd made a point of seeking me out, poured poor Cicero a drink, said he wanted to have a man to man chat, there was something he had to tell me. But the Silver Hand came before he could say any more. Cicero was only in his motley, he only had his knife. One of them went for Cicero and Kodlak… Kodlak changed. He was a werewolf too but Cicero had never seen his beast form. All the Hand went for him after that. He… he died saving all of us… because of me."

Cicero looked devastated at the mere memory, and Athis felt the outrage die. He'd not been there – he'd been with Eola, helping her wipe out the Glenmoril witches so Kodlak could have his cure. They'd got back to Jorrvaskr just in time to see the devastation firsthand – Kodlak dead on the floor, Vilkas kneeling by his body in tears, and Cicero surrounded by about seven dead members of the Silver Hand, pale, shaking and clearly overcome by strong emotions. When Vilkas had shouted at Eola and Athis for not being there, Cicero had been the one to scream at Vilkas to leave her alone before clinging to Eola, sniffling against her shoulder. He'd only perked up when Vilkas suggested a visit to the Silver Hand headquarters to avenge their fallen Harbinger. That had cheered him up immensely. Then had come the funeral, and something had happened after that, something that had sent Cicero into a howling sobbing mess for hours and then he'd been quiet and sombre for days, up until he'd accompanied the Circle to Ysgramor's Tomb. Athis had remained behind, Eola telling him Cicero was insisting on going, and she needed to be there for him… and then they'd all eventually filed back in and Eola was the new Harbinger and Cicero seemed calmer. Still mourning, but seeming more at ease. And Athis had a feeling this journal had something to do with it.

Slowly, Athis went over to Cicero, sitting down next to him before passing the journal over.

"I'm sorry, Cicero. Here. If it means that much to you, you can have it back."

Cicero looked up, expression wary but he saw the precious journal being handed back to him unread, his privacy unbreached, Athis apparently not tricking him after all, and Cicero reached out and snatched it back, clutching it to his chest, eyes closed as he sighed in relief.

"Thank you, brother," Cicero whispered. "It is… it is very good of you. Cicero is… is sorry he shouted."

"It's all right," Athis said quietly. "I know his death hit you hard. If having his journal comforts you, then you have it. I only ask that if there's anything in there that might comfort your fellow Companions, that you tell them as well. They're grieving too."

Cicero nodded, squeezing the journal tight, before looking tearfully up at Athis, nervous little smile on his face.

"I'm going to be a father," Cicero whispered. "Athis, we're going to be fathers. Little ones – twins! I – I mean, I'm not ready. I cannot – I never wanted… but children are sweet? Sometimes? There will be three of us, the rest of the Companions will help, Fralia will be all over them, their grandfather will doubtless be delighted and send an entire squad of ReachGuard to assist – do you think Jarl Balgruuf will mind?"

"Yes, but I think the High Queen will talk them both down from an actual fight," Athis said, amused at the prospect of Balgruuf and Madanach squaring off over the presence of ReachGuard forces marching into the city to protect the latest additions to the Reach Royal Family.

Cicero giggled, still fingering the journal fondly, before looking up at Athis.

"Brother," he said quietly. "Do you think it would comfort those others who knew the Harbinger to know there will be grandchildren?"

That did get Athis's attention, not to mention Serana's.

"But Eola's not related to Kodlak, she can't be," Serana whispered. "So does that mean you…?"

Cicero nodded, smiling through his tears as he held out the journal. Apparently now the secret was out, he had no trouble sharing the journal.

"Yes!" Cicero gasped. "Yes, it is in the journal, here, here! Serana and Athis should read!"

So they did, Serana looking over Athis's shoulder as they read entries predating the rise of the Dragonborn even, of Kodlak dreaming of not being allowed into Sovngarde, before the dream changed and a Reachwoman with one eye and dark magic at her command saved him from Hircine, aided by a redhaired archer in a merryman's hat with the face, hair and eyes of Kodlak's old lover. It turned out said lover, Stelmaria Di Rosso, had vanished from a tavern one night after having been seen in the company of a Breton called Sam, never to be seen again… but Athis knew Cicero's mother had had that name, raising Cicero as a single mother until she was killed when the Imperial City fell during the war. Cicero had been thirteen at the time, homeless and heartbroken, and while he didn't talk about what had happened then, everyone suspected he'd turned to crime to survive. Cicero had never denied this.

"A Breton called Sam?" Athis asked, suddenly realising just why Cicero had encouraged him to take part in that drinking contest.

"Yes, Sam Guevenne!" Cicero hissed, narrowing his eyes. "Of course Cicero knew him. Cicero wished to win him over, lull him into a false sense of security and then murder him for stealing his childhood! Of course, then Cicero found out he was the Daedric Prince of Debauchery, which stopped that plan. I suppose the staff is useful."

Not compensation for not having a father, or a childhood in Skyrim, where his mother would have been safe from the war, and they all knew it. But Cicero could do very little about it and so did not dwell on it. Athis returned his attention to the journal.

Jorrvaskr politics – Farkas and Vilkas betrayed by the loss of Sovngarde, Aela and Skjor deciding the Hunting Grounds was the better afterlife. The issue still not resolved when dragons came back, and then the arrival of the Dragonborn distracted everyone. Then Skjor's death, Ria's capture, Vilkas going off with Farkas on some mad quest to try and rescue Ria, Aela, previously neutral, becoming fervently anti-Stormcloak and quarrelling with Njada constantly, when she was even in Jorrvaskr. Then the Battle of Whiterun, Kodlak finally persuaded by a politician who seemed to have her honour intact to allow his remaining Companions to join the defence of the city, but at the cost of Njada the Stormcloak supporter, who left to join Ulfric. Her later death in the war was a sadness but not a surprise.

The surprise turned out to be Elisif returning to trap a dragon and fly off on it to face Alduin – amazing enough, but not when it turned out the price had been an alliance with the Forsworn to take Windhelm and bring the war to a halt. That had led Kodlak preparing to leave immediately, convinced the King in Rags would be massacring innocent Nords. Then he'd met the man's daughter and realised she was the woman who'd driven off Hircine, and that had given him pause. Meeting Madanach himself and finding he wasn't the monster he'd assumed either, but a man who cared for his family and was trying his best to put a long neglected city back together, had also given him food for thought.

And then he'd met Cicero, and known the man for his as soon as he laid eyes on him, and Kodlak had written pages on the guilt, the emotion, the anguish as he talked to Cicero about his life and heard a tale of woe and pain and loneliness – the loss of his mother young, a disreputable life of which Cicero preferred not to speak, finding a replacement family and that falling apart too, loneliness that had broken him, and finally coming north and ending up working for the true High Queen after she saved him from the Dark Brotherhood. Then he'd met Eola and was happy in that at least. It had only salved Kodlak's guilt a little, and Kodlak had decided the only honourable path was to offer Cicero and Eola a place at Jorrvaskr. They had accepted and settled in commendably swiftly, making friends, having some notable successes, winning over Fralia and Tilma within the first week, persuading Olfina she was wasted as a barmaid and should join up, and generally making themselves at home. And while Kodlak wasn't entirely easy with the apparent growing attachment between Eola and Athis, he was at least relieved to see Cicero didn't seem to mind. So it was that Kodlak had decided to trust his dreams and take Eola into his confidence, and found that her aunt Keirine could help if she could get her talons on the heads of the Glenmoril Coven who'd laid the curse in the first place.

So Eola had gone to deal with the witches, taking Athis with her at Kodlak's request, so Kodlak could get Cicero alone and finally tell him he had a father. Kodlak wrote at length how proud he was of his boy, how saddened and guilty he felt at never having been able to provide for him as a Nord should, but that he intended to make up for it, and that if all went well, Cicero could have a permanent home at Jorrvaskr and they could have the father-son relationship they should have had years ago.

That was the last entry. Athis lowered the journal, knowing what must have happened. Kodlak had written it the night before he died, intending to tell Cicero the following day. He never had the chance. He'd died saving his son instead.

"He died before he could say anything," Athis whispered. "You didn't know until you found this after he died. Cicero, you poor sod."

Cicero took the journal back, holding it to him with his eyes shut.

"Now you know why I always carry it," Cicero whispered, not meeting their eyes. "It's all I have from my father. Words of love and affection and pride in poor undeserving Cicero. A diary and a memory, of his spirit in Ysgramor's Tomb, when Eola and I cured his spirit. I called him Papa and… and we may have both cried a bit and he told me he loved me and that I should always have a home in Jorrvaskr and that he was sorry and..."

Cicero took a deep breath and wiped the tears away, and that was the point Serana finally lost her nerve and cuddled him. Cicero squeaked awkwardly, before patting her back and cuddling her too.

"Serana has her own family troubles, Serana does not have to comfort poor Cicero," Cicero whispered.

"But your story's so sad!" Serana cried. "I mean, losing your mother, and then your father finding you but not being able to tell you in time… you poor thing!"

"He is in Sovngarde," Cicero said softly. "It is what he wanted. I hope he is happy. As for Cicero..." Cicero put the journal away, determined look on his face. "Cicero will have children of his own soon. He will be sure to tell them of their honourable Nord grandfather and their brave Imperial Legion nonna. And he will help raise them, and teach them important things like reading and writing and sneaking and stabbing and how to cook their prey once they have killed it."

"Er, he is talking about animals here, isn't he?" Serana whispered to Athis.

"He'd better be," Athis said grimly. "Hey, Cicero. Does this mean you're coming round to the idea?"

Cicero nodded, touching the pocket that stored the journal.

"Yes," Cicero said quietly. "Cicero's children will have more than a diary and a memory. Cicero's children will have their father. Cicero may even name one after their grandfather."

"And if they're both girls?" Serana asked.

"Then I'll name one after Mama instead," Cicero said decisively, getting to his feet. "Come, come, let us go. Let us not keep Madam Valerica waiting any further, hmm?"

"Let's not," Serana said, smiling as she made to follow him. For all the sadness, Cicero's story had touched her. He'd had a father who loved him, a good man from the sound of it. Serana found herself envying him. Maybe Cicero had lost his mother and been robbed of his father's love until it was too late, but he'd still had better parents than she had. Serana had a feeling he'd make a better father than hers too. He wasn't planning to sacrifice his children for immortality or take over the world anyway.

But Serana still had her mother, and with the Keepers gone, said mother was now free. Time to go find her.

A/N: The Kodlak reveal is unlikely to be news to readers of Cicero Dragonborn, but I thought it worked better thematically with this one rather than WQA. At least Kodlak never found out about the Dark Brotherhood membership here.

Next chapter finishes the Soul Cairn bit - I have something different planned for Durnehviir. Born of necessity what with no Dragonborns in the party...