Danasi took to ensuring she happened to be around when the Listener was spending time in the Sanctuary. The amulet seemed to work equally on Lucien as everybody else, so she grew bold enough-or addicted enough- to request a word with the spectre when possible, out of interest in the legend's stories. She couldn't reveal herself to Lucien, she had decided. What if he thought he was wrong to trust her after she killed Ungolim, that she had let him go to Applewatch knowing his fate? And the shame of her desertion... his only mistress was the Night Mother, she did not believe he would forgive her abscondment because of her heartbreak. The best way to honour him would have been to continue serving the Night Mother, building the family, enforcing the Tenets, sending souls to Sithis...

So she would simply ask him about the old times from behind the magic of the amulet, an interested sister, allowing him to talk at length about his lifetime. She heard some of the old Lucien- the living version- when he spoke of his personal kills, the familiar relish creeping into his tone, and she smiled. She was happy in those moments, sitting with nothing in her world but his voice, speaking of times they were together and more she'd never before heard. But it was a restless happiness overshadowed by her anonymity, unable to truly experience contentment while the desire to greet him burned constantly inside, dampened only by the guilt.

"What is it like... in the Void?" she asked tentatively one night, huddled in a chair by the fire while others ate and spoke over the table in the main room.

The ghost folded his arms and contemplated the question. "I am closer to Sithis, here. I am able to continue serving in the mortal world through a bond with the Listener, but existence in the Void is... pure. We should not fear death, for we join our siblings in the cold embrace of our dark mother and father."

Danasi watched him thoughtfully. "And... well, I have encountered spirits... haunting the places they died... they retain memories of how they died, or they are like a pure memory of the events. But you... do you...?" She could not work out how to ask about his murder.

He understood what she was thinking anyway. "There is no pain in the Void, sister. I... remember, but my soul was freed to kneel at the feet of our Dread Father in death, as in life. It does not matter how one dies, the Void welcomes all those who serve it."

Danasi swallowed and looked into the fire. "I'm glad," she said quietly. His soul was not in constant torment as she had worried. She couldn't have lived with herself if she had sentenced him to an eternity of pain. A faint smile crossed her lips as she glanced across at him with glazed eyes. He was... okay.

His eyes met hers, searching and wistful. "You remind me of a protégé I knew... long ago..."

She should turn away, brush it off, disappear, but she couldn't look away. Protégé? When he had made her Silencer for her "talents" she had not responded so well. She hadn't wanted to be good at killing. The Dark Brotherhood had given her a place to belong, but it didn't mean she wanted to excel. But Lucien had had a way of making her see things differently, become proud of her work and, yes, live up to his expectations of her as his student. Protégé.

She drank in the look. She should turn away. "Oh, I doubt I'm anything like them..." she murmured truthfully. Those nostalgic eyes... she couldn't resist. "A protégé?"

He looked through her for a moment. "A woman I recruited. A Dunmer, actually. Quite skilled, a good heart, but... one defiled by the world. She was my personal assassin for a time. She thought she was ruined by taking life but... she understood love and death- the two are so often intertwined. She was perfect for the Dark Brotherhood, if she would only have accepted it... I do wonder what became of her..." He turned his attention to the fire, ruminating.

Danasi stared at the side of his face, a mere few feet away but utterly untouchable. Tears had filled her eyes for the first time in centuries. She turned to the fire and attempted to blink them away, trying to subtly catch with her hand those that escaped down her cheeks. She said no more after that and Lucien seemed to pay her no more heed.

After a while those who were dining left, the Listener beckoned his spectre and Danasi was alone by the fire. The tears returned and this time flowed freely.

The Dunmer woman was on the Listener's mind. Something bothered him about her. She was just so... vague. He didn't need the minutest details of her life story; naturally, assassins had a penchant for secrecy and the journey members took to the Brotherhood was often a story they were not willing to share. But he did not know when she had been a member, which chapter, who she had known, what she had done. Babette had never encountered her. She took only the most menial contracts despite being highly able. (He'd have trusted her with some high profile targets, if he trusted her). She rarely spoke with anyone except his spectral assassin. Perhaps she misses the old ways, her glory days he supposed. He'd studied her discreetly once or twice while she conversed with Lucien. Nothing much struck him as suspicious. She asked questions one would ask of a ghost or an expert in one's field. She always wore an amulet, enchanted- he could sense the magical aura, being well trained in the arcane himself- but there was no Tenet against that. Lucien had expressed no concern over the woman's agenda, but neither offered any further information on her identity.

Reserved, private, misfit. Ordinarily he would not think anything of a professional killer possessing these traits. Living among ordinary society demanded it, and his own people had had difficulty adapting to the return of tradition with the arrival of the Night Mother. The Dunmer could just be finding it troublesome adapting to the Dark Brotherhood à la Skyrim. However, given the trouble back in Falkreath with Astrid and Maro, the Listener was choosing to be extra vigilant about who he allowed into his Sanctuary.

"Lucien, I need your help. I want to keep this small and I know you have the Brotherhood's best interests at heart. Come with me."