Leola sat on the bench of the long dining table in her mother's home, staring blankly across, into Aventus's dark eyes as he gazed intently back at her. He had just finished speaking, telling her all that he knew of her mother's association with the Dark Brotherhood.

"My mother killed the Emperor of Tamriel," Leola said, her voice expressionless and monotone.

"Yes," said Aventus with a nod. "And many other people, but with the nature of our organization, they all had it coming."

Leola was quiet, lowering her head and closing her blue eyes to think. She was struggling to absorb what Aventus was saying. Her mother had been the leader of a group of assassins that worshipped a deity that was neither aedra nor daedra? Her mother had killed people in exchange for large sums of gold? An image flashed before her eyes of her mother, loving blue eyes gazing adoringly at her young daughter, brushing Leola's pretty blonde hair and softly singing to her. For a moment, she tried to conjure up the image of her mother as a warrior, ferociously slashing at people with a sword, but she just couldn't envision it. It was nothing like the woman she had known.

"This is all so hard to believe," Leola said in a soft voice. "I mean, I believe it, but it's difficult…I want to know everything. I want to know what else she didn't tell me."

"We should look around upstairs more, then," said Aventus. "I'm sure there will be other stuff up there that could help us piece together more. I mean, we already know that she was the leader of the Dark Brotherhood and a major asset in the Stormcloak rebellion. There are loads of other factions around Skyrim that she could have been associated with – the Thieves' Guild in Riften, the Dawnguard vampire hunters, the Companions in Whiterun…"

"It would be wonderful if my mother was a vampire hunter," said Leola with a faint smile. "It would be…you know, redeeming."

"Being your mother should have been redeeming enough," Aventus said in a tone that was almost stern. "Don't forget that whatever you knew of her was still a part of who she was, and that she left everything else behind to focus on you."

Leola bit her lip slightly, hanging her head and nodding. He was right, after all – perhaps having Leola had changed her mother, and Aventus was right that she raised Leola in an attempt to redeem herself for all the other things she had done. That still didn't help the fact that she had told Leola nothing, though, but instead left her completely in the dark.

"It's times like these I really wish I had a father," Leola said with a sad laugh.

"You do have a father," said Aventus. "We just don't know who he was. Maybe we'll find some clues to that somewhere in the house?"

"You think?" she asked softly.

"Maybe. Come on, let's look around upstairs," he said, standing up. Leola stood as well, following him as he moved to the staircase and began to go up. She paused when they reached the top, looking around slowly at all the displayed weapons and armour. She sighed softly, looking at Aventus.

"Where do we even begin?" she asked softly as the tall man moved towards one of the display cases.

"Right here," he said in a soft voice, carefully unlatching the display case and lifting the glass lid to get a better look at what was inside.

Leola walked over, looking inside. A bulky, spiky-looking mace sat inside, with an eerily skeletal face carved into the side that was facing upwards. There was a haunting green glow about it, and Leola, finding herself increasingly uncomfortable, took a step away.

"What is that?" she asked softly.

"I believe," murmured Aventus, "that this is the mace of Molag Bal."

"The daedric prince?" asked Leola, remembering all the time spent in the massive library her mother had always kept stocked.

"Yes," said Aventus, nodding. "Now…I just wonder how your mother got her hands on this…" Leola watched Aventus, whose gaze shifted towards one of the mannequins. He moved towards it, closely examining the sleek, shining black armour that it wore. "Ebony mail," he said slowly. "I believe it's the armour of the daedric prince Boethiah."

"Aventus," said Leola in a soft, shaky voice, "why is my mother's house filled with daedric artifacts?"

The man was silent. Instead of responding, he moved to another display case, opening it and examining the sword that was inside.

"Leola," said Aventus finally, turning to face her, "I'm going to head back to Dawnstar. I'll see what I can find out though, maybe the others in the Brotherhood will know something more – I only know the stories, about your mother saving our Brotherhood and how skillfully she assassinated the Emperor. There may be more."

"Thank you," Leola said in a soft voice, smiling sadly up at him. "I hope it's not what it looks like…"

"I do too," Aventus agreed. "I'll ask for you at the Palace when I come back. I'm assuming you're going to stay there?"

"I am, I don't want to be here with all these daedric items," answered the young blonde with a shudder. Aventus laughed and then nodded.

"Until we meet again," he said with a motion that was almost a bow. Leola blushed, smiling at him as he turned and headed away. She was quiet as he went down the stairs, moving only after she'd heard the door fall shut downstairs. She headed down the stairs and through the dining room, towards a small room she'd noticed in the back of the house.

Stepping inside, Leola looked around curiously. It appeared to be a child's room, with two small beds, a chest, a wardrobe and a dresser. Sitting on a shelf was a small doll, crudely sewn together and with golden thread drawn into pigtailed blonde hair. Beside it was a toy wooden sword, and then a sprig of lavender. It was clearly a room intended for young children, and as Leola ran a hand over the blanket of one of the small beds, sadness filled her heart.

She had been planned. Her mother had wanted to have children. She had a room prepared for them in her home and everything. Why had she run away? Why had she raised Leola in the secluded manor on the lake rather than in the bustle and excitement of the city? Why had she disappeared and left all her friends behind? Leola had barely known anyone growing up, seeing people only when her mother asked her to run errands in town for her.

She looked at the other bed with a frown on her lips. She was meant to have a sibling. A brother or a sister, someone to play with. Of course, she had also been meant to have a father, and that hadn't happened. Perhaps that was the reason why her mother had run off with her – her father wasn't somebody that her mother wanted to be in Leola's life. Perhaps she had, in fact, been unplanned – a plan for the future that had come earlier than intended, and with the wrong man no less. That would explain her mother's actions.

Turning, she left the small room behind her and headed back towards the front door. Visiting this house and seeing all her mother's possessions had only left her with more questions than she had answers. On her way past the bookshelf, she shot it a glance, her blue eyes scanning the various spines that faced outwards to see if there was anything of interest. Nothing seemed to jump out to her, though, so she continued to the front door.

As her hand reached for the door, a sudden chill ran over her spine. She whipped around, half-expecting to see somebody behind her, but there was no one. She was silent, an uneasy feeling running through her. She felt as if somebody was watching her, but how could that be? She was alone in the house, and Aventus had left.

Shivering slightly, she opened the door and stepped out, making sure to close and lock the door behind her before hurrying away. She now wanted nothing more than to get away from there, back to the safety of the palace. She didn't know what other secrets were hidden away in that house, but she certainly didn't intend to go in there alone again.