"So," said Aventus, taking a sip from his glass of wine, "it took a lot of prying, but I found the information we needed and I'm not sure you're going to like it."

Leola bit her lip as she looked across the table at the handsome assassin, clad in his shadowy black armour with the buckles and red embellishment.

"I've learned a lot of things that I haven't liked," Leola said to him softly. "Go ahead."

The inn was relatively quiet. Elda was cleaning down the bar counter and the elderly Adonato Leotelli was hard at work putting pen to paper, but neither of them were paying any attention to Leola and Aventus.

"One of the other assassins, a young woman named Babette – well, kind of a young woman – she says that your mother did have ties with some of the Daedric princes. She wasn't sure about the extent of it, but she did know a few – your mother possessed Azura's Star, which she used frequently to make weapons, and Babette remembers your mother telling her about her encounters with Molag Bal and Sanguine. Apparently your mother had a drunken night with Sanguine that caused mayhem all across Skyrim, and for a short time, your mother was very open about her ties with Molag Bal, proudly wielding his mace and honouring him."

Leola cringed at hearing this particular detail. It was the exact thing that a child never wanted to hear about their parent, ever.

"When your mother moved to Windhelm and started to focus on her ties with the Stormcloaks, she apparently retired the mace and Babette never saw it again. She's very pleased to know that it's still safe – Babette's a vampire, see, so she technically belongs to Molag. She thinks that we should return it to the shrine where your mother found it, but obviously that's up to you. Anyways, Babette didn't know anything else, but she doubts that your mother managed to make it through her life without encountering more than three of the Daedric princes, especially with how important and influential she was."

Leola gazed sadly towards Aventus. It broke her heart to hear what he was saying, and it frightened her to realize that perhaps Sam Guevenne, the drunkard from the other day, had been right about her mother.

"I met a man the other day," Leola said softly, "and he told me that my mother won the favour of every Daedric prince in her life and now her soul is in Oblivion."

Aventus frowned at hearing what Leola said, quickly shaking his head. "That's impossible," he said. "She couldn't win the favour of every Daedric prince. At least one of them had to have rejected her – and they don't all get along. Babette says that your mother killed a priest of Boethiah in Molag's name, so how could she then go on to win Boethiah's favour?"

"I don't know, maybe it was done in the other order? I'm just saying, this is what the man said…"

"Who was he?" asked Aventus, clearly concerned by the idea of strange men discussing Daedra worship with Leola.

"I don't know. His name was Sam. I've never seen him around and I haven't seen him since. He was a drunk, I don't know how he knew anything about my mother and the Daedra," Leola said, rather frantic at this point as Aventus pressed her to tell him more.

"If he was a drunk then it was probably dumb luck," Aventus said, though there was something in his voice that had her doubting whether or not he himself believed it.

"I don't know," Leola said softly, shaking her head. "I mean, maybe. I suppose. I hope so."

"Aventus," came a voice, and both parties looked up to see the Breton, Erith, approaching with a smile on her lips. "Leola."

"Erith," Aventus greeted her with a nod.

"May I join you?" Erith asked, nodding towards the seat beside Leola. Aventus shifted his gaze towards the blonde.

"Of course," Leola said, smiling up at Erith. A look of surprise crossed Aventus's face.

"So you and Leola talked the other day when you got here?" he asked, and Erith nodded.

"Of course," she said, "I was nice to her about things, much moreso than the boys would have been." Erith shot Leola a smile, as if to prove it, and Leola smiled back, her cheeks heating up slightly. A slight smirk came to Aventus's lips as he saw the interaction.

Leola was quiet while Aventus told Erith what he had just told her, about Leola's mother and her ties with the Daedric princes. Erith was thoughtful for a moment.

"Well, we'd just have to find an orc to ask them about Malacath," she said. "And I know where a handful of other Daedric shrines are – stumbled upon them on my travels, it's not something I go out looking for," she added as Aventus shot her a questioning look. "We could go there and just…I don't know, ask?"

"Ask the Daedric princes?" asked Leola incredulously, staring over at the Breton in amazement. "How would that go? 'Yes, hello, all-powerful beings of Oblivion who could strike us down at any moment if they wished, we just wanted to know whether or not my mum was one of your followers? Yes? Ah, I see. That is all, goodbye!' Is that not the quickest way to get ourselves killed?"

"Not if we ask the right questions," said Erith quickly, frowning a bit at Leola's outburst. "We need to know what to do with their artifacts. We can't just go around selling them or passing them out here in Skyrim, so we should ask their respective princes what they want us to do with them. We might be able to keep some, we might have to return some to the shrines, we might have to deliver them to certain others… I don't know if you want them just lying around though, especially knowing that they're items some people would kill for."

Leola bit her lip slightly. Erith was right. Eventually, people would find out about the Daedric items that filled Hjerim, and she'd rather deal with them before that happened.

"Alright," she said. "We'll do that. Where do we start?"

"Narzulbur," said Erith. "It's an Orc stronghold not far from here. We'll go there and ask them to get us in contact with Malacath to see what he wants us to do with his artifact."

"Because the Orcs will certainly let us in," said Aventus, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"When they hear of our purpose they will," Erith replied. "Shall we?"

"Right now," asked Leola, a frown coming to her lips.

"Well, why not? We should be able to make it there and back before dark, and if it takes too long I'm sure the Orcs will be kind enough to give us a place to rest for the night," said the Breton.

"Have you ever met an Orc before?" Aventus asked, looking intently at Erith.

"Aventus," said Erith, "this is the Dragonborn's daughter. Even the Orcs will understand how important this is. I promise."

A sigh left Aventus's lips and he looked towards Leola. "I'll only go if you're willing to do it," he said to her.

Leola was quiet for a few long moments, thinking it over. She wasn't sure she had ever met an Orc before. Aventus spoke of them as though they were hostile, vicious beings, but Erith spoke of them as though they had the morality and thought process of humans.

"They're sentient and moral beings?" she asked softly.

"Yes," answered Aventus and Erith almost in unison. "They're just very solitary," Erith added quickly.

Leola bit her lip, and then nodded. "We'll go, then. If they don't want anything to do with us we'll find another way, but it's worth a try."

"That's my girl," said Erith with a grin, causing another flush of pink to spread across the young Nord's cheeks. "Let's get going."

The three stood up, and Aventus gave the young blonde a concerned look. "Leola," he said, "if we end up in a combat situation, I want you to just get behind me. Understood?"

"Understood," agreed Leola softly. She wasn't trained in combat at all, and though she had with her the dagger that Ulfric had given to her a couple of nights before, she knew that she wouldn't stand a chance if the group of them were attacked.

"We'll protect you, Leola, don't worry," said Erith with a smile before turning and heading for the stairs down. "Now, let's go deal with some Orcs!"

"Not so loud, please," muttered Aventus, lifting his hands and drawing his black hood up over his face as he headed out with the two girls.