The group had been trudging through the snow back to Dawnstar in silence, all too uncomfortable to discuss the task that lay ahead of them. Ana had suggested they just give up on Vaermina, but everyone else had been quick to shut her down. Failure was not an option. They simply had to do as the Daedric prince asked, and if that meant giving her the girl Mette, they would have to find a way.
Aventus, under his breath, had been telling Leola who Mette was. Mette's elderly grandfather ran the Windpeak Inn in Dawnstar with the help of Mette's mother, Karita. Mette spent half her time in Dawnstar and half her time in Solitude, where she studied at the Bard's College. She was a year or so younger than Leola, and just as Vaermina had hinted, there was a dark story behind her birth – rumours had circled when Karita fell pregnant that the father was a member of the Blood Horker pirate clan, a group who spent much of their time in the Windpeak Inn. "If such a thing were true," Aventus had said to her softly, "it would mean that Mette was probably conceived by undesirable circumstances."
"We'll just…we'll see what Mette says," Ana said. It was clear all along the walk that she was becoming more and more frustrated – her younger sister Rona, apparently, was best friends with Mette. "We'll tell her what's going on and see if she's okay with coming – she doesn't have to if she doesn't want to-"
Aventus caught Ana firmly by the forearm and jerked her backwards towards him, glaring coldly down at her. "Ana," he growled, "we serve Sithis and the Night Mother – no one else. It is our job to be ruthless and to do what must be done. Vaermina has no intention of hurting Mette – if she will not come with us, we will take her."
Leola's eyes were wide and she inched back slightly until she bumped into Minot. The Breton put a gentle hand on her back and Leola felt a blush creeping across her cheeks.
"Ana and Aventus aren't quite one anothers' favourite people," Minot said in a soft voice, whispering almost right into Leola's ear so that the Nord could feel the other woman's warm breath on her skin. She felt goosebumps rise up on her arms.
"I won't be part of this," Ana snapped. "I'm not going to force Mette to leave her home and her family and her friends for a fate we don't even know – especially not when all we get out of it is the satisfaction of knowing we helped the High King and his snotty little daughter. Why should we care about them?"
"Ana," Aventus growled, his grip on her arm visibly tightening, "as your superior, I am ordering you to carry through with this and to help us by any means possible."
"I won't!" Ana exclaimed, pulling on her arm. Aventus let go, frowning. "I won't have anything more to do with this – if you need me, I'll be back home with Nazir. Surely he'll agree with me that all this was foolish!"
With that, the other woman turned and stormed away. Aventus sighed, turning to face the rest of the group. "Does anyone else object to taking Mette to Vaermina? If you do, I ask that you leave with Ana at once," he said.
He was met with silence from the others. Naniena gave a shake of her head.
"Very well," said Aventus. "Now, Ana did have an excellent point in that we should be upfront and honest with Mette and see where that gets us – personally, I think that we should send Leola to speak with her. Leola is, after all, the Princess, and she's a great people-person."
"I am?" asked Leola, and the rest of the group laughed.
"You are," Minot said in a gentle voice.
"Only if you want to do it, though," Aventus said quickly. "Would you like to help us convince Mette to serve Vaermina?"
Leola laughed slightly. "That definitely sounds easy," she murmured with a smile. "I can try."
It was only a matter of minutes before they reached the inn, and Aventus opened the door, politely holding it for Leola and the rest of the group. They filed in, turning heads as the patrons and employees began to look.
"Thoring," Aventus said with a grin, moving towards the bar and addressing the elderly man behind it. "How about a few rounds of mead? And some music from the beautiful Karita?"
A groan left the lips of the bard, a middle-aged Nord wearing too much makeup and too little clothing, trying too hard to look younger than she was. "Drop dead, Aretino," she snapped.
"I'm hurt," Aventus joked as Cassius, Nani and Minot sat at a table, joined by Aventus. "Where's Mette? I was hoping Princess Leola here could meet her."
"Princess?" Karita asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked at Leola.
"King Ulfric's long-lost daughter," Thoring said in a low voice, gazing at Leola before moving towards her. "Is it true that you are the Dragonborn's daughter?"
"Yes, it is," Leola replied with a nod.
Thoring smiled, standing before her and gently taking one of her hands in his. "Your mother was a good woman," he said. "Stayed here more nights than I can remember, always eager to hear what was going on around town, an excellent listener…she never seemed to mind when my head was somewhere else, one of the most understanding people I've ever met. You're lucky to have some of her in you."
Leola's lips widened into a smile as she listened to his words. Amidst all the secrets and lies that shrouded her mother's life and deeds, she would never tire of hearing how good and loved she was.
"Thank you," Leola said softly. "It means a lot to hear that."
"My granddaughter is outside," Thoring said. "I'm sure she'd love to meet you – maybe she can even come and visit you in the palace someday!"
"I'm sure that would be lovely," Leola said softly, smiling. She turned away from him and headed to the door as he went to serve drinks to her friends, his daughter having started a somewhat painful rendition of Tale Of The Tongues.
Leola moved out the door and immediately saw a girl who had to be Mette – she looked like her mother Karita from behind, with strawberry blonde hair drawn into a braid and a much more modest outfit – a white blouse with a brown skirt and corset. The girl had a broom in her hands and was sweeping a thin layer of snow off the inn's porch.
"Mette?" Leola asked, and the girl immediately whirled around, looking at Leola.
"Yes! Sorry, can I help you?" stammered the girl, running a nervous hand through the few reddish locks that had fallen loose around her face.
"Hi," Leola said with a smile, moving forward. "My name's Leola. Leola Stormcloak. I'm Ulfric's daughter."
Mette's dark eyes went wide and her mouth fell slightly open. "You're…you're the lost princess," she breathed.
"I am," Leola said, nodding. "And I need to talk to you. It's important."
"O-okay," Mette stammered, propping the heavy broom up against the building's outer wall. "What is it?"
Leola bit her lip, looking at the young girl. She didn't look older than maybe fourteen or fifteen years, and it was clear that she was somewhat shy. She hated even more that she had to do this.
"I need you to do something for me – something big, and life-changing, and probably really difficult, but it's very important. What do you know about the Daedric Princes?"
Mette shook her head. "Not much," she said softly. "There's a museum here in town open every Loredas, they talk about some of the stuff to do with one of the Daedric Princes, b-but that's it…why?"
Leola bit her lip slightly, glancing briefly away. "The Daedric Princes each have a piece of the soul gem that contains my mother's soul in it. I'm trying to get them back and deliver her soul to Sovngarde, where it belongs."
Mette's dark eyes went wide as she heard Leola's words and she nodded slightly. "I – that's terrible," she said softly. "That's really horrible…but w-what exactly…what do you need me for? What do I have to do with this?"
Leola sighed softly.
"One of the Daedric princes – Vaermina – has asked for you."
"Asked for me?"
"Yes, by name – she doesn't want you dead or anything like that, but she says that she was partially responsible for your birth and she wants you to serve her."
"To serve her?"
"As a worshipper, basically. You'd stay in her tower, perform rituals for her, you'd have access to all the knowledge of her library, you'd basically have freedom…" Aventus had briefed her on what serving a Daedric prince might entail – though Sithis wasn't quite a Daedric Lord, Aventus was sure that there would be similarities. "It's your choice, though."